Our Best: Ash and Misty
by Warlordess
Summary: A one-shot series. Because some bonds are more important than love, and because communication is a two-way street. About friendship, add a pinch of shipping.
1. Unlikely Coincidence

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'. (Creative, I know. . . =P)

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, this is going to be a combination of two one-shot series I wanted to write about Ash and Misty. (Apparently one-shot series are the new thing, though I hope mine will be a tad more popular than some of the others I've seen out there recently.) Some of these fics are going to be about methods of communication between the two of them (basically a bunch of phone-call fics showing that they're still close, still best friends who are _trying _to remain as such) while the other part of these fics was going to be about miscellaneous moments in time (both friendly and romantic). Because of that, these will all be out of order. I currently have one plot for each mini-series each that would have actually extended into two chapters, but even they weren't going to be written one right after the other.

Anyway, this is just for those fans out there - (please say that some of you are still out there!) - who are looking for an AaML fix. Also try to remember that this series will not always be romantic, will not always even be hinty. Some of these pieces may even be about Ash and Misty failing as a couple. Please read the title / summary of each piece to make sure, in case you're not in the mood to read that kind of thing. Oh, and to make sure, other than those two plots I mentioned above, **none of these one-shots will be connected to one another**. They will all exist in different universes unless otherwise mentioned. Because of that, this fic will be marked as complete right away, even though I will continue to add to it as inspiration comes to me. Feel free to favorite it or add it to your alert lists to keep getting updates.

Please review (so that I know you're interested in this series) and thank you to anybody who took the time to read that.

This series will be especially (specifically) for people who are fans of Ash and Misty's friendship as much as anything else to do with them. I pray that you're open-minded about any hints, even if you don't support them as a couple, but the point of this was to remind Pokemon fans that these two _are _best friends. Their relationship shouldn't be belittled simply because the staff removed Misty from the series.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**OnE-sHoT**** tItLe **- "Unlikely Coincidence"

**Location **- Shamouti Island, the day after movie 2000 ends

. . . bUeCsAe SmOe BnDoS aRe MrOe ItOmRaPnT tAhN lVoE . . .

**Summary **- Takes place the day after Ash defeats Lawrence III in Pokemon 2000. He wakes with a fever on Shamouti and is forced to stay for awhile longer. The thing is, he isn't the only one who got sick. . .

**O**o**O**o**O**

Ash groaned and curled up under the covers a little better as he felt the dizzy pounding in his head appear once again. He felt like he was sinking just below the surface of the ocean - which was exactly what he'd been doing just yesterday according to his mom and friends. He didn't remember much of it, partially due to the eighteen hour adrenaline rush he'd constantly felt running through his veins, let alone the fact that he was unconscious for that part in particular.

"Pikapi, pi chu pika?" Pikachu asked worriedly with a sniffle of his own, slowly easing himself up on his hind legs as he checked his master's condition. He swiftly leapt up beside Ash's face and bit down on the rag that had been placed above his brow to cool him down as he sweated out his fever, then dashed to the bedside table to dip it into the small basin filled with ice water. After the towel had been refreshed, he placed one end under his heel, twisting it round and clamping the other end tightly in his mouth as the excess water was squeezed out before turning to put it back where he'd gotten it.

"I. . . I have it, buddy. Thanks for your help. . ." Ash said affectionately, removing his arms from underneath the blankets and accepting the rag from his best friend, offering a scratch behind the ears as consolation. When he was done, he slowly folded the plush material back into a small square and put it over his own forehead, shivering from the cold that greeted the action. "Ugh!" He flinched again, muscles tightening as another wave of nausea crashed into him, though he mashed his dry lips together and braced himself through it.

"Pikapi. . ." The electric-mouse Pokemon sympathized with his trainer, licking him on the cheek before returning to his designated spot around Ash's knees and waiting for the next time he could be of some use.

"Would you please stop moaning like that?" A voice called to him from the bed to his left on the other side of the basin, stronger than the tone Ash had been able to muster since waking up and feeling like such crap. "_Some _of us may be trying to sleep this thing off. . ."

His eyes snapped open at the supposed insult, turning and glaring at his other friend who - for whatever reason that she had yet to explain to him - had also gotten sick after the perilous adventure they'd embarked on the previous two days. The redhead was facing the wall on the opposite side, so he couldn't see the expression on her face, but if her irritated tone of voice was any indication. . .

"Well I'm sorry that the side-effects from my fever are so despairing for you to hear. Next time I'll be sure to muffle them so you don't have to worry about it." He turned his nose up at her - though she didn't see it, obviously - as his way of showing that he wouldn't be doing such a thing after all. Luckily, Misty knew better anyway without him having to say anything else and didn't thank him for his kind offer.

"Pikachupi, Pikapi, kachu pipipi pika!" Ash's Pokemon exclaimed, on his hind legs again and staring between his two favorite trainers as if admonishing them before they would have the chance to start another one of their legendary arguments. Togepi, curled inside her shell at Misty's feet (because Misty was too fearful that her fever was contagious to let her baby any closer to her), rolled over and popped out to grace them with her presence as well.

"Togi togepri!" She chimed, hoping to get their spirits up like any child hoping to distract their parents from a fight with one another.

"It's alright, Togepi. I'm sorry for worrying you like that. If it makes you feel better, I'll get up to feed you after taking a little nap, okay?" The redhead asked with a glance down towards the end of her bed before the dizziness got to her as well and she stopped forcing her neck to crane in that direction, letting it fall casually back against the pillow.

As if making a point, however, she refrained from moaning and groaning about it like Ash had a moment ago. (Though she almost bit through her lip at the same time.)

"How is that possibly a good idea?" Ash happened to ask with a tight-lipped grimace. He was starting to get chills despite having three blankets pulled over top him and the heat in the room set to a stable seventy-two degrees. "I thought you were scared that Togepi would get sick too from whatever this is?"

"Of course you wouldn't understand, Ash, you're not a parent. When your child is concerned for you, you have to alleviate their fears. You have to make them believe that everything's alright so they don't continue to worry too!" Misty held her breath for a moment, heaving in and out a few times (enough to make Ash fearful as to what was going on), before she gave a light sneeze and finished what she'd been saying before. "Besides, who knows? Maybe all I need is a little extra sleep to get over this. I could be better within the next few hours. You know, if you manage to stop bothering me so I can close my eyes and stop thinking."

"I didn't know you were capable of thinking, Myst. I guess you can learn something new every day, huh?"

"There are a lot of things you don't know, Mr. Pokemon Master. And no matter how much time I spend on it, I'll always be capable of thinking more than you do."

Darn, he thought he'd had her there. Even sick with a fever, Misty was still able to one-up him in a fight. Then again, he was sick too, right? So maybe he would be able to best her if he got better faster. Bearing that in mind, Ash pressed his eyes tightly closed and willed himself to sleep. If Misty was right (he almost wished she wasn't), then maybe he just needed a couple hours extra sleep in order to regain his full health.

Of course, as soon as he'd decided to do just that, the door to their room (or quarantine) opened and Tracey peered inside at the inhabitants. Neither one of them turned to see who it was or chose to acknowledge him. He decided to make this as quick and painless as possible then.

"Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that Melody and her sister are in the kitchen making you both some hot tea, and Mrs. Ketchum is working on her homemade chicken broth. Oh, and I wanted to ask if you need anything else." He said, hand still on the doorknob for a fast getaway.

"Some better company," Ash murmured immediately with a begrudging look at the upper right bedpost.

"Some _peace _and _quiet_," Misty ground out next in a threatening manner, still staring at the wall facing the opposite side of the room.

Tracey bit his lip in response. He was pretty sure that was his immediate queue to leave, and he'd definitely be taking advantage of it.

"Well, just-let-me-know-if-you-need-anything, bye!" And he quickly slammed the door shut behind him - loud enough to make both of his friends moan in agony from the stimulation to their headaches - and took off down the hall with an innocent whistle.

What the Pokemon watcher had said caused another thought to race across Misty's head, although she prayed it would flutter away soon enough. She had expected Melody to sit at Ash's bedside and flirt constantly with him like she had during the beginning of the legend ritual. As irritating as it had been, it was also just as harmless seeing as Ash didn't understand any of it, but it didn't stop Misty from worrying. After all, Ash didn't have to fall for Melody to decide that he rather liked her company more than Misty's. She was doting and put a lot of faith in him through her forward behavior. It was kind of strange that she had suddenly backed off so whole-heartedly.

_". . . Besides, he's never alone because he's got. . . me."_

But what had Misty meant by that anyway? Obviously she was Ash's friend, she wanted to be there for him, and prove to him that she wouldn't just sit back when he most needed her. She did care, even if her fierce words and actions sometimes made him think that she was rather rough around the edges. He was her friend, her best friend. As often as they fought against each other, she had decided quite awhile ago that her place was at his side. She rather liked it there. So maybe what she'd meant, as possessive as it sounded, was closer to. . .

_"No, let me do this. You have your own obligations. And please. . . don't get any closer to him."_

". . . get it."

"What did you say?" Misty asked before she could stop herself. Well, she really _was _curious about what he'd said.

"I don't get it."

"Uh, what are you talking about?"

"Well," Ash seemed to hunch further into himself as though sort of embarrassed for even wondering about such a thing, like he had only just started considering the specifics of it, "you're sick."

"Wow, can't even begin to imagine how you figured that out. . ." She muttered with a nearly vicious darkness woven into the words.

"Geez, let me finish, will ya, Myst!" He exclaimed, regretting it almost immediately and taking a few steady breaths to calm his nausea before continuing on. "What I meant was I'm sick, and you're sick. . . but nobody else is. I mean, Pikachu has some sniffles, but that's it. Togepi seems fine, Tracey is obviously okay if he's running away from us like normal, and Melody hasn't said anything - at least, not to us. I just. . . I'm trying to figure out how you of all people got sick with me. Is there something I'm forgetting or. . . ?" And he fell silent as though he really was putting together the events from the previous few days and working through the details.

Misty shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant way before realizing he couldn't see that, so she decided to use words as well.

"Who knows? Maybe we just have weaker immune systems than the others."

". . . The what's-it system?"

"Immune system, like white blood cells and anti-bodies and stuff. The part of our bodies that fight off illness and disease." And though she could have laughed at him for not knowing what it was, she chose to hold her breath, obviously hoping with all of her heart that he would leave it at that. After all, she'd only just admitted to herself that he was her best friend, that she would do most anything for him, let alone having proven it the day before. She really didn't want to have to tell him as well, so she would live with force-feeding him this farce.

"Oh. . . you think so?" His aggressive tone had vanished as he continued trying to work the equation out into a solution. "It's just. . . well, we've been traveling together for so long - almost two years - and neither one of us has gotten sick before. Do you really think it's coincidence after all this time that we would both suddenly get these fevers at once when nobody else did?"

"Or maybe it's an energy thing."

"Energy. . . thing? What's that mean?" She could almost see his brows furrowed as he sounded it out, unsure of the answer. The thought brought a small smile to her face, though it vanished just as soon as she realized it had come on its own.

"Like, maybe we both used up more energy during what we went through these past couple days. More-so than everyone else anyway."

"Really? But then, maybe I _am_ forgetting something. . . No offense, Misty, I just don't remember you doing anything that none of the others did back there." Ordinarily she would have been upset about him undermining all that she'd done to keep him alive, you know, except for the fact that she was trying to prevent him from learning just what she'd done to keep him alive anyway. Crap, she felt more suffocated by the second as her best friend began to unravel the faults in her explanations. And yet, even now, a part of her felt just the tiniest bit guilty that he was struggling even to remember all that he'd accomplished the previous day.

"You _wouldn't _remember that. Don't worry about it Ash, just go to sleep, okay?"

"Wh - what? No!" Ash leapt up into a sitting position, though he groaned for the first time in over half-an-hour, his head falling slightly forward and meeting one of his palms for support. He wiped the sweat from his brow before swallowing thickly and turning to face the redhead in the bed to his right. "Geez, Myst, what kind of stupid secret is worth keeping from me? Like it really matters or not!"

"If it doesn't matter then drop it and go to sleep! I'm tired and you're making me angry. If you don't leave it alone, we can't get better. We'll be stuck on this stupid island forever and you'll never become the Pokemon Master!" Dammit, where the hell was Melody with that tea?

"I meant that it shouldn't matter to _you_. . ." He grumbled to himself, though it was still loud enough for her to hear. Ordinarily, he would have cracked a joke about how she'd sort of, kind of admitted that she thought he'd maybe, possibly become a Pokemon Master one day, but the weight of the moment was pulling him down. It was obvious that his friend wasn't telling him something. It could have been stupid and pointless for all he knew, though he doubted it if she was guarding the truth from him so completely.

"D - don't I have a right to know? I mean, I did save the world yesterday, didn't I? Shouldn't I know everything that happened?"

Misty remained silent for a few moments after. Pikachu and Togepi feigned sleep. They would have usually interrupted by now, though their trainers didn't seem to have degenerated into argument like they did most of the other times before this. Whatever was going on now. . . seemed different. They couldn't even touch this.

Finally, with a sigh, she continued, "What's it matter, Ash? I mean, really, is this about you or about me? Because now I'm just confused. . ."

"Well, I don't know. . . It's about you _and _me, you _trusting _me with what you did to _help _me yesterday that nobody else did."

"Oh." He was either smarter or more intuitive than she gave him credit for. Whatever the case was, he obviously had already figured half of it out. Did it really matter if she kept the rest from him after all? And maybe he was right. After everything he'd done, everything he'd put himself through yesterday just to keep some madman collector from destroying the natural balance of the world, he was owed every answer he asked for about the situation.

Would it really hurt her (or their relationship) to tell him how she'd followed him out to sea? She supposed not.

"Fine, Ash, I'll tell you. But don't read too much into it, okay?" She forewarned him, waiting for his response before finally deciding to be honest.

"Uh, sure. . ."

"Alright. . . So we - Tracey, Melody, and I - were still on the small island with Slowking while you were gone with Lugia visiting the final shrine to get the third orb." Yes, she still remembered how painful it had been standing on the sidelines waiting for her best friend's safe return. She sometimes felt that was her place, maybe misguided by the fact that she was traveling with him on _his _journey and not realizing that some situations were independent of such idiotic beliefs. But this time, waiting impatiently for the familiar shadow of a large legendary Pokemon and Ash's call upon seeing his friends' faces again had not been good enough. She was so nervous, would have been biting her nails off if not for having to hold on to Togepi so she didn't wriggle out of her grasp. . . and scared. The funny thing was that, though the world was so prominently in danger, the only thing on her mind was Ash.

Ash.

ASH.

So she couldn't just sit there and wait like a loyal pet, she had to get active, she had to help. Screw the legend, the prophetic words that said the _chosen one _had to complete this mission. The chosen one had friends and family who would feel burdened and guilty and ashamed if he didn't come back safely!

"Awhile later we saw shadows above the clouds. I thought it was just lightning at first, or maybe Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos continuing to duke it out so high up in the sky. . . Until that crazy psycho released these strange chakrams that whirred out and above the clouds too. . . And then we saw a huge _something _that was enveloped by them as it hit the water. We were pretty sure it was one of the legendary birds, though we couldn't tell which one. . . But. . . I, _we_, knew something was wrong. So we made a plan to help you just in case.

"At first Melody thought we could try and repair the boat and go out to sea but we were worried it would take too much time, if we could somehow figure it out at all. So then we decided someone might have to go out alone. None of our Pokemon would be able to handle the water after the balance was upset so badly, at least it wasn't something we were willing to risk. . ."

Without knowing it, both of them had turned to face each other during the shift of the conversation. Ash was staring at her, not wide-eyed, not excited, just. . . Misty would almost call it patiently. He wanted to know, honestly wanted to know everything that had been a huge blank to him. She had seen his gaze briefly light up in acknowledgement of the one thing he did remember so far; that was, when Lawrence the III had sent his huge contraptions out into the air hoping to catch his ultimate prize, Lugia. And then a cold electricity had circulated through his body and forced him into unconsciousness. He was dead to the world before even hitting the water he was sure was still swarming underneath him.

"Tracey found a rope among the supplies in his bag and we tied it around my waist. I was the strongest swimmer among the three of us. Melody's lived on the water a long time but she's fonder of sailing than swimming. . . So finally, after that, I left them both behind too with Togepi to find you." Her back hunched forward as her arms encircled her knees, which were folded towards her chest. It wasn't a fond memory for her.

"Find me? You mean you. . ."

"Yeah. The water, it was so cold. At first I thought I'd lose consciousness on impact, and then I thought I'd fall asleep before ever finding you. There was no way to know where you were other than to keep looking and calling your name, hoping you'd catch my attention somehow. My fingers and toes prickled like needles before they finally went numb, but I kept going." She didn't want to continue confiding in him how her lungs seemed to be filling up with ice, how her breath had slowed and her sight had wavered as a few frigid waves crashed over her. She felt guilty when thinking about how long she had taken to find him, how she had stopped once or twice for a minute to catch her breath and make sure her joints were functioning properly.

She had even wondered if they'd both die out there before having the chance to finish this thing.

"I don't remember how long I was looking for you, it felt like hours but. . . the world might not have had that much time, so who knows?" She gave him a wry, almost bitter, grin at the prospective memory. "Finally I heard Pikachu calling as loud as he could, trying to reach the ears of anyone or anything that was brave enough to venture out to find you or try to save the world on their own. I grabbed a hold of you and helped keep your head above water and then tugged the line around my waist so Tracey could pull me back inland.

"And that's basically it."

"That's it?" He asked her, quirking a brow. It sure sounded like a more perilous journey than she'd summed it up as. What she'd done should have merited a thanks, or maybe even a medal. Hadn't she just admitted to saving his life, let alone helping him save the world? But she was blowing it all off as though swatting a fly away that had been bothering her. She was trying to make sure this wasn't a big deal.

And then something strange happened; Ash felt a flutter in his chest. It was in no means anything romantic, it was just. . . sympathetic. After all, Misty was the first friend he'd had other than Pikachu who would put herself at risk for him. As hard-headed as she sometimes behaved, she almost reminded him of his mother. Someone who watched him as he grew as a trainer, as a person, and stepped in without any doubts in order to assist him when necessary, even if she didn't word it that way.

His mother, who had fed and clothed him all the years prior to leaving on his Pokemon journey, who supported him even now with encouragement and care. And Misty may have liked to start the occasional fight and may have insulted him once or twice, and sure the knowledge she offered was sometimes riddled with a negative nickname or prod to his ego, but. . . when had she ever just sat there and let him suffer? In her own way, she was supporting him too, wasn't she?

Neither his mom nor Misty had been the most influential part of his journey, neither of them may have been a barrier between him and any trials he had ever faced but they both lessened the blows, they helped him succeed and pursue his dreams. They were so important to him because of that.

"Yeah, that's it." Misty's tone was somber as she let her head ease back into the pillow, took a deep breath, and finally turned away from him again after finishing her story. "See? You didn't miss much Ash, so don't worry about it."

Ash remembered waking on the beach with Misty's hand to his chest as she shook him around, easing his consciousness to the world, heaving breath and drenched in seawater. He remembered leaping to his feet, stumbling and fumbling up the path and praying that he didn't pass out again before finishing what he had to do to save everyone, his friends holding him up and asking him if he was okay. He had not questioned anything about it even once since then. How could he have been so remiss so as to have not wondered how he'd even _reached _land? He remembered thinking he was surely going to die as he plummeted into the frigid waters of the Archipelago. . .

"Pikapi?" His best friend asked, and he shook himself out of his blank stare and gave him a pat on the head out of acknowledgement, accompanied by a small smile.

"I'm fine, Pikachu. . . Thanks for asking." He pulled Pikachu up into his arms, gripping him an almost too-tight hug out of gratification. If not for his buddy holding him above the water until Misty had come to find him, he would have died. Both of them would have died.

He couldn't die yet.

And thanks to his friends, he didn't have to.

He allowed Pikachu to regain the place he'd been laying in before, but then slowly removed the blankets that had cocooned him in the bed for the past fair few hours. He twisted himself to the side, draping his legs over the edge and trying to put some weight on them even as his vision blurred from the dizzy wave that swept through his head. He shook himself to clear his mind and then attempted to stand up.

Unfortunately, that didn't last, and he fell to his quaking knees.

"Oof!" He exclaimed, causing Pikachu to peer at him from the bed and make sure he was okay, and he wasn't the only one. Misty's head whipped around fast enough to cause her neck to crack but she ignored the discomfort.

"Ash, you idiot, what are you doing?" She practically shouted, snapping up into a sitting position again. The vision at the corners of her eyes darkened but she ignored it for fear of her friend who seemed to have forgotten how sick he really was.

"It was! It _was _important!" He said affirmatively, apparently to her, as he crawled to her side. She stared down at him as he knelt there, catching his breath after his first movement since the day before. His whole body was so tired and aching after facing that inevitable end that he had somehow managed to prevent but he just had to tell her this!

"What the. . ." She gaped at him, nearly withdrawing from him and wondering if he'd lost the little bit of sense he'd been granted from birth. "Ash, get back in bed right now! I swear, sometimes you're so stu-"

"-Yeah, stupid, dense, idiotic, bike-wrecker; I gotcha." But he smiled at her anyway, and she felt her lips quirk upwards just a little bit as well.

Bike-wrecker. It had been awhile since she'd heard that one.

"But you'll still call me your friend anyway, won't ya, Myst?" And his gaze turned suddenly serious as he continued to speak. "What you did for me yesterday. . . Say what you want, act like it was nothing. . . but it was important. You helped me make it through. So thanks. I appreciate what you did for me. That's all I had to tell you."

She stared at him for another moment, wondering what she could possibly say to that. She'd come a long way from praying that she could take the secret of how far she'd gone to save Ash the previous day to her grave. Still, she was at least mildly surprised that it did indeed seem to matter to him. Whether it was lucky or unfortunate, she chose to held her breath for a few more seconds. . . which proved to be just enough time for the door to crash open once again, causing the two of them to flinch and Ash's resolute status beside her bed to falter so that he could crawl back over to his own.

"Hey you two, how are you doing, hm?" Melody grinned widely (almost mischievously) at the two of them, before her eyes trailed in Ash's direction and she gave a faint gasp, almost dropping the tray lined with small teapot and porcelain cups to the very ground he kneeled on. "Oh, Ashy, is something wrong? Did you fall?" And she immediately stepped up to his side, placing the tray on top of the bowl of cold water, and looping arms with him to help him to his feet.

Misty tried to ignore the faint prickling of _something _that was igniting almost like a warning bell in the back of her head. It only seemed to make her headache worse anyway. And strangely enough, as soon as it had come, it vanished once again along with Melody easing Ash into a sitting position on his mattress and letting him go. She seemed almost rushed about it.

"Fall? Yeah, maybe. . ." Ash smiled up at her in thanks for her assistance but didn't offer any further explanation.

"Wow, you might be sicker than we thought then. . ." And the brunette in turn placed one of her hands to her forehead and another one to his, ". . . though I can't tell since your head is still cool from the towel you've kept on it all day. I should go find a thermometer. I can get you guys more medicine too. I think it's been long enough since your last dosage." She turned to look at Misty here, the redhead strangely silent for her taste.

But then Misty couldn't help thinking of it. . . Yeah, Melody was more irritating now when she had given up on flirting with Ash compared to when they'd first arrived on the island and she'd been throwing everything in her arsenal at the guy.

"Well, anyway, before I do that, I'll pour you both some of my special ginseng green tea so you have something to drink to wash the pills down. I hope you don't mind, I brought honey instead of sugar since it's healthier for you anyway, and I - huh, I guess I must have forgotten the cream. Do you take that in your tea anyway?" She rambled on, waiting for them both to shake their heads before getting back to work, pulling the two small china cups over to her and carefully tipping the small pot over, watching carefully so she wouldn't spill it on accident. And without asking how much they wanted, she took the honey bear and squeezed some into each cup, picking up a small spoon from the tray and stirring the tea around before handing it to her _patients_.

"Well, I'll be back in a few minutes. Feel free to drink what you have. I can always pour you more when I get back." And then, without so much as a glance at either of them, she vanished from the room again, snapping the door shut behind her. She seemed to be in too much of a hurry. . .

_Well, _that's _not weird at all_, Misty thought to herself suspiciously as she finally did as she'd been recommended and took a sip from her tea.

"Eh?"

Ash turned to stare at her confusedly, eyeing the way she seemed to be staring at the tea in wonder.

"Something wrong, Myst?"

"Uh. . . I don't know, it's just. . . this tea. . ."

"Does it taste bad or something? Melody acted like it was _special _or something but, well, sometimes _special _can mean a lot of things. You know, like disgusting."

"No, it's not bad, that's not what I meant. . . It's just that it's. . . not as hot as I thought it'd be."

She waited for him to say something to that, something that confirmed her suspicions. But of course, he was Ash and just didn't understand where she was going in the slightest. In fact, rather than saying anything, he just continued to stare her down with a quirked brow, waiting for her to elaborate on this development.

"Ash, Melody was supposed to have been brewing this a little while ago while we were laying here. Remember? Tracey said that she was working on it when he came to check on us."

"So. . . ?"

"So if it's cold now, I can't help wondering how long she was standing outside our room."

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- The end of the first one-shot in this series. Truthfully, the finishing moment/line was a lot better sounding in my head, but I guess since it's just supposed to be one moment in time, a very small fraction of the huge journey Ash and Misty have ventured on together, it should be alright. The point was to prove - beyond crushing on him - Misty will do a lot for Ash. I'm not saying something as blunt as taking a bullet, since they've never faced a situation with an actual gun (in the _English _version). . . but as far as friends go, she's proven herself in my eyes. What she did for him in the movie 2000 seemed so crucial to me and yet it was never reflected upon, something I would consider a mistake. Ash isn't the only one who should have his heroic feats documented time and time again, especially when all he really is is a kid who cares so much for his friends and the trampled rights of honest people, that he can't just sit back and accept doing _nothing_.

Well, in my opinion anyway.

Tell me what you think, offer suggestions, if you have a specific thing you think should be written out between them, feel free to let me know. That is, in case you don't mind my possibly being inspired to flesh it out in the process. I'd give out credit for the idea of course.


	2. Accountability

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'. (Creative, I know. . . =P)

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, this is going to be a combination of two one-shot series I wanted to write about Ash and Misty. (Apparently one-shot series are the new thing, though I hope mine will be a tad more popular than some of the others I've seen out there recently.) Some of these fics are going to be about methods of communication between the two of them (basically a bunch of phone-call fics showing that they're still close, still best friends who are _trying _to remain as such) while the other part of these fics was going to be about miscellaneous moments in time (both friendly and romantic).

Please note that, as stated in the first one-shot I posted, these are all unrelated to one another and completely random. I'll try to include a setting underneath the one-shot title so that you have a relative idea of where or when this takes place. If I don't tell you where or when, then it's not a big deal whether you know or not.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**OnE-sHoT tItLe **- "Accountability"

**Time-frame **- beginning of Sinnoh League, sometime after Dawn's first competition. (Takes place before the Buizel episode.)

. . . **b**_e_C**a**_U_s**E** _c_O**m**_M_u**N**_i_C**a**_Ti_**O**_n_ I**s** _A_ t**W**_o_-W**a**_Y_ s**T**_r_E**e**_T_. . .

**Summary **- During a rare phone conversation with Ash, it slips that Misty's special gift to him is not being used properly. But is there a reason why?

**O**o**O**o**O**

When Misty had picked up the phone in the Cerulean Gym lobby, she had not expected it to be Ash. Truthfully, she would have sooner expected Team Rocket to call her, as outrageous as it sounded. Then again, this was one of the very few times her best friend had ever done such a thing in the whole three years they'd been separated.

She wondered if it was about _that _thing. She hadn't been nearly so brave so as to hand it to him in person, even though she'd been finished crafting it since before he'd gone to participate in the Kanto battle frontier. Instead she'd waited, biding her time, and taken advantage of a risen opportunity. Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum had banded together to give Ash a care package before he was due to leave for Sinnoh later that week and had phoned her to ask if she'd like to throw something in there as well.

Perfect. Absolutely fantastic. What better chance would she have?

But for Ash to call her now, she wondered what he could possibly have to say. Certainly it was going to be about that thing? Maybe he was going to make fun of her, ask her why she would send him something he'd obviously have no need for. Or maybe, just maybe, if she kept her fingers crossed and her hopes up, he would thank her, would smile and say that it was nice to think she hadn't gone and forgotten him just yet.

Either way, her cheeks prickled and began to glow red, her heart thumping up into her throat. Of course, she pushed it back down immediately and dared it to try that foolhardy action again. She was _not _going to continue crushing on her best friend. Misty had long since realized that it was useless to like Ash that way. He would never return those feelings. . . but he would forever view her as his best friend.

She did value that position far more than those feelings she used - emphasis on the word - to have for him.

Still, telling herself this fact over and over did not seem to be helping her.

"Okay. . . well, since you're not going to say hi to me, I guess I'll say it to you. Hi Misty! What's going on? Are you busy?" With the video-screen option on, he was able to crane his neck as though looking behind her to see for himself. Of course, not only was he left staring at a blank wall, but it took him only five seconds to realize something else was amiss here.

"Why is it so dark? Some sort of power outage?" he asked, ignoring the obvious.

"Ash, when was the last time you were able to call someone using a home phone with a live video feed during a power outage?" she asked him skeptically then, before he could answer her snippy tone, she supplied another reason. "It's nearly eleven o'clock here in Cerulean. I was about to go to bed, you know?"

"Wow, that late, huh? It's only about two here. Hn, maybe _that's _why Brock was saying it'd be better to wait until tomorrow."

"Ya think?" But her smart-assed remark was interrupted by a yawn. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about? Is that why you're calling?" she asked him almost hopefully. True, she was tired and she would have to get up extra early tomorrow in order to go to the PokeCenter and retrieve her Pokemon from Nurse Joy, but if he were to ask her to stay up and talk with him about anything, about _nothing_, she'd do it without another thought. God forbid.

"Uh, well, maybe. . . but. . . no, never mind. It's fine. It's nothing. I mean, I was just. . . I guess I just missed the sound of your voice and I wanted to catch up. But if you're too tired, I guess I'll just. . ." He seemed troubled but blew it off next moment.

"Hm, what are you talking about?" Darn it, there was just something so endearing about the guy, wasn't there? "Besides, if you missed me that much, what else am I supposed to do, right? I guess I can put up with you, you know, if nobody else will." She gave him a small smirk, a quiet chuckle, at the same time biting back another yawn.

After all, who really needed sleep to survive?

"Yeah, thanks for that, Myst. Really. But if you're sure it's okay then I'll. . ."

There was a moment of awkward silence that greatly irritated Misty. She contemplated yelling at him for being so stupid that he couldn't think of anything to say, or else maybe abruptly hanging up to make her point valid, but held herself back. She had to stay positive, she had to think about how nice it had been at first, the very thought of Ash calling her in his rare moment of spare time just because he realized he'd been missing her lately.

"So. . . you got anything?"

"ASH!"

"Oh, wait, I know!" he started over, ignoring her indignant cry, "Awhile ago, I participated with Dawn in her first Sinnoh Contest. It was pretty cool. In fact, she's out training with her Buneary now for the next one. I think she's gonna do pretty well but I've had my fair share of them for now. I'll just stick to kicking Gym Leader butts and winning badges," one contemptuous laugh later, "still though, maybe I should help her train. I've had a lot more experience than her and she's pretty new as it is. But Dawn is intuitive about what to do in front of a crowd, let me tell ya. It's probably 'cause her mom is a former champion herself, ya know?"

If not for the fact that he was obviously rambling, Misty would have been far angrier. After all, as long as it had been since the two of them had talked, it was rather rude of him to speak so off-handedly, so proudly, of some other girl.

And _no_, in case the peanut gallery happened to be paying too close attention, she was _not _jealous. She was just a little miffed that he had never been capable of saying those kinds of things to or about _her_. Seriously, if she hadn't been forced to go back to Cerulean, she probably never would have heard Ash call her his best friend!

Alright, alright. Begrudgingly, she would maybe (possibly) admit to not being not jealous. Just because she knew her place in Ash's life did not mean those stupid feelings of hers would immediately evaporate, you know?

"Uh, Ash, are you sure there's nothing else you wanted to say to me? Maybe about something the Professor and your mom gave you? Something that reminded you of a certain friend of yours?"

"Something like that. . . ?" He took precious care to allow the confused expression to cross his face, his eyes blinking towards the ceiling as he racked his brain for what she could possibly mean. ". . . Nope! Nothing comes to mind! Why, was there something in particular you were thinking of? It seems like a pretty specific question." But rather than give her a chance to answer, he pursued another topic of conversation as a sobbing Brock wandered past him in the background, his spine limp and his demeanor quite hopeless. He gave a listless 'hello' to Misty but otherwise wandered away again without saying anything.

"Haha, looks like Brock got rejected again. I gotta tell ya, Myst, it's been pretty hard to keep him away from the girls without you here. I guess you must know that but jeez, when he really gets going with the glittery wallpaper and the flowers and the poetry. . . Yikes, you know?"

He didn't seem to realize he was rambling again. It was enough to make her suspicious. Maybe he had lost that thing she'd sent him and refused to admit it to her. But that wouldn't be anything new, would it? Heaven forbid he take responsibility for doing something wrong, something that would hurt her feelings.

Awe, he was trying to protect her feelings. . .

Unfortunately for him, though, Pikachu and Piplup hadn't been in on such a plan. They'd followed after Brock but stopped short when they saw Ash talking on the video-phone.

"Pikachupi!" The call came muffled as though Pikachu had something in his mouth. He vanished from her sight for a moment as he approached the counter, too low for the camera to catch him on video.

"No, wait buddy, maybe you shouldn't come up here. I'm not sure how Nurse Joy feelings about Pokemon the tables and stuff. . ." Another cry from the electric rodent, again strangely muffled by something he must have had in his mouth, and Ash replied next, "Fine, whatever, but give me that before you say hi to Pika - uh, I mean Misty. You want her to understand you, right?"

It would have been almost affectionately funny if not for Ash's overly-panicked state. Please, like she _wouldn't _get the message. Forget the fact that she didn't really understand Pikachu's native tongue anyway. It was pretty obvious by now that her best friend was hiding something from her.

"Pip piplup?" Came a foreign call out of her line of vision as well; apparently Dawn's Sinnoh starter. It sounded so cute too! She wanted to ask for a close-up but Ash seemed rather distracted at the moment.

"You're finished getting your check up from Nurse Joy already, huh? Dawn's out right now, she probably took your Pokeball with her, but I'm sure she'll be back soon. She knows you were scheduled to be released from the Center's custody around now. Just play with Pikachu for - no, Pikachu, I told you to wait, you know? Stop!"

But the electric Pokemon was too excited about seeing one of his favorite trainers again for the first time in awhile. He leapt up onto the counter of the video-phone cubicle, a small shiny item dropping out of his mouth so that he could greet her with a familiar wide smile.

"Pikachu pika pikachupi! Chu pipi pika!"

Misty smiled fondly back. Yeah, she still found it impossible to understand what he was saying but there was no mistaking his friendly tone. He was undoubtedly saying that he missed her, that it was good to see her, nice knowing she was doing well for herself, or something of the like.

Of course, when the nostalgia and contentment wore off, she caught sight of Ash slowly inching a free hand towards whatever it was that Pikachu had dropped out of his mouth.

"Ash, what are you doing? What _is _that anyway?" she asked, eyes drawn to the shining, bright colors of the small item. She had thought it was food at first but was obviously wrong. Orange-red hair, yellow tank top, that winking expression, and a small finger raised, poised as if explaining something with a cute pose. . . That was too familiar to be a mistake.

"Ash. . . is that the fishing lure I sent you?"

He flinched, looking as though he'd been caught red-handed, but still refused to say anything to her, perhaps hoping she'd believe herself to be wrong or else go on a quick rant about how disrespectful he was and move on to something else just as soon.

Unfortunately she did neither.

"You have ten seconds, Ash Ketchum," she began in a nearly quivering tone of forced calm, "to explain to me why Pikachu is running around with my special lure before I hang up and never speak to you again. And don't you dare try and say he's planning on going fishing."

"Darn, it woulda been a good punch line anyway."

"Ash!" she shrieked in response.

"Look, it's no big deal, Myst. Pikachu liked it a lot when he first saw it, in fact I'm pretty sure he and our other Pokemon use it in a game or something, like hide-and-seek, and since I don't want it, I figured it was alright to give it to him as long as he was getting some good use out of it."

One deep breath later and he seemed to be finishing making up his excuse.

"Oh, is that it?" Her voice was a little unnaturally high, as if she were trying to speak over the sound of her own heart crumbling.

"You're not upset, right? I mean, yeah, you made it, but isn't it technically _my _lure? So I can do whatever I want with it, right?" He gave her a few seconds to respond but she gulped back anything she could have said, unable to trust her own voice as of yet. "I mean, if not for Pikachu, I don't think I'd even remember having it. It'd probably just sit in the bottom of my bag until my mom or Brock happened to find it while searching through my dirty clothes."

"You don't," she cleared her throat to kill the squeak in her voice, "you don't want it, huh? Yeah, I guess you never did. . . Otherwise you probably would have asked me to make you one before, back when we were still traveling together. How silly of me to think that it could be something useful to you!"

"Hey, I'm not gonna say sorry, okay?" he yelled back at her, "Like I said, it _is _mine and who cares if I actually use it to fish or not? Maybe I don't even like fishing! Did you ever think of that? Maybe we only ever went fishing 'cause _you _always went on and on about it!"

"Fine Ash, whatever you say! But you didn't have to lie about it, you know? I kept thinking you'd at least appreciate the thought but it turns out you've just been pawning it all off on Pikachu and hoping I wouldn't catch on, acting ignorant whenever I tried to ask you about it, as if you didn't know anything at all."

She was screaming now as a way of venting, screaming because she had to cover the hurt she was feeling, not to mention it seemed to be the only way she knew how to get answers from him.

Her lure, her special lure that she'd spent weeks designing and crafting just for him, had been reduced to nothing more than a chew toy. . .

Honestly, she would have been hurt even if he _had _come up to her and straight-forwardly spit it out, that he didn't want it, didn't need it, that it was useless to him. She'd racked her brain trying to come up with something that would help him on his journey to another region, something that would maybe remind him of her as well. Even so, even if she had been told from the beginning, even if she'd realized she'd been wasting her time trying so hard, at least she wouldn't have spent just as much time wasted on waiting for him to say that he'd gotten her present, that he thought it looked cool or that he'd caught a really interesting and strong Pokemon thanks to _her _help. . .

At least she would have known better. But no, that would be too much responsibility for him, wouldn't it? He'd rather drag her lamented hopes through the metaphorical mud.

Dammit, if he weren't so far away, she'd probably already have walloped him with her mallet. Or her paper fan. Or her Gyarados.

"Pikachu. . ." The electric mouse pouted, feeling like he must have done something wrong. Truthfully, both Ash and Misty had forgotten he was even there.

"No, it's not your fault Pikachu. . . But I do know who _is _to blame." Misty hinted, eyeing Ash with a sharp glare. "Hey, do you think your stupid trainer and I could have a few minutes alone? I have some select things to say that aren't going to sound very nice."

Pikachu nodded, turning his nose up at Ash, believing that he deserved whatever he had coming to him. Then he leapt off of the counter and ran back across and out of the lobby, Piplup trailing behind him.

"I can't help that I don't like it, Misty. Looking at the darn thing makes me feel queasy. Fishing isn't worth it if I have to deal with that every time."

"_Looks_? You don't _like _how it _looks_?" Admittedly, those were not the choice words she'd been expecting to hear.

"I never liked it. Like I said, I feel sick just looking-"

"-Yeah, yeah. I got that. I guess. . . I guess I just didn't expect you to be so shallow. I mean, I get that it looks like _me, _I know I'm not the cutest girl you've ever met, but really? You're going to turn away a special hand-made gift because you don't like looking at it? Do you even realize how much of my feel - uh. . . how much of my time was spent on it?"

"Time?"

Could it really have been such a valuable investment?

Even so, the way she phrased it made her seem at least a little bit shallow too.

"Gah. . ." she sighed frustratedly, her cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. She should have known better than to work on something so important. Since when had Ash ever valued anything she had made before? The frustration was giving her a headache and yet - underneath all of that - she couldn't help but realize that, yes, she should have known better.

"Look, it's not 'cause it's ugly. Or you; it's not 'cause you're ugly either. 'Cause I never even thought that far. . ." he amended, apparently just as embarrassed as her for some reason. And Misty couldn't help the celebratory flutter in her chest, though it nearly evaporated when Ash continued speaking.

"But, hey, what do I know? Maybe you _are _ugly!"

"W - what?"

"Awfully ugly!"

"ASH!" she raved.

"God ugly!"

"I'll kill you!" And she lifted her arms as though hoping to strangle him through the video feed. Quickly, she dropped her tone down to a whisper, glad that her sisters were sleeping on the opposite side of the Gym/duplex home, one floor above. Otherwise she'd never hear the end of it.

"I'm kidding, okay? I just wanted us to move on from _that _thing is all."

"That thing, huh? You mean the fruits of my labors? My blood, sweat, and tears? My. . . Well, you get where I'm headed. No Ash, I won't drop it so easily. Just tell me why you would do this. What were you so worried about? I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, the chance to explain yourself. If you care about our friendship at all, I suggest you take it."

She expected him to complain, maybe to yell stubbornly back at her or to defend himself. However he did none of those things, just choosing to stand there. For a moment, she wondered if she'd gone too far. She was sure that, even if he turned around and said point-blank that he just didn't care about "that stupid lure" and that she was blowing the entire thing "way out of proportion", she would find it impossible to just hang up and never speak to him again.

But she figured she might as well go ahead and prepare herself for the bout of disappointment she would surely be feeling any moment now.

"It's just. . . hard to explain. When I first opened up the box my mom had sent me, I saw this note from her along with some snacks, and Professor Oak sent me a couple of League magazines. The thing is, I could just eat the snacks - they're _supposed _to disappear. And I could give the books to Brock once I was done with them. . . but what you sent me. . . well, like you said, you spent a lot of _time _on it. Blood, sweat, tears, and all that, right?"

"I still don't get what you're trying to say."

"I just. . . I kept thinking of all the bad stuff that could happen to it. Dropping it, losing it, scratching or breaking it. It was easier to give it to Pikachu so that I wouldn't have to deal with it at all."

"Let me get this straight. Rather than chancing it and using it despite the possibility of something happening to it, or else leaving it in your bag like a priceless, super-valuable collectors item, you decided you'd rather pawn it off on Pikachu and act like it never existed whenever you and I talked?"

"Well, when you put it like that. . ."

"Good plan, Ash, good plan. . . I can see where you thought that would be the best course of action. I mean, I know I greatly appreciate what you did, tossing aside something special that I made just for you. You do realize of course," she paused here for dramatic effect and maybe so that she could focus on the guilty expression on his face, "that I made that fishing lure so that you could use it to - oh, I don't know - _fish_."

It took every ounce of self-restraint she had not to reiterate all of the pleasant hopes that had crossed her mind after first sending him her _something special_. She had been looking forward to the phone call when he would tell her how he'd caught some cool, new Pokemon, how he'd made his Sinnoh team stronger - all thanks to her, how he really could've done without the pose and the obviously-Misty likeness (though he'd be trying to hide a fond smile as he stared at it and said such a thing).

Truthfully though, she felt she'd gotten her point across without all of that.

"If it helps, I never . . . I mean, I didn't think it would. . . I never planned it would upset you this much. In fact, I was so sure I was making the right call because. . . doesn't it prove how important it is to me?"

Misty quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I meant the not-using-it-for-fear-that-I'd-lose-it part, not the giving-it-to-Pikachu-as-a-toy part."

She sat there quietly, staring blankly through him, holding back another yawn and wondering just how much time she'd spent trying to force the truth out of him. Stupid Ash. She couldn't understand how he didn't get it. Wasn't it supposed to be simpler?

"Ash, let me see it."

He wordlessly removed the lure from his vest pocket, where he'd hidden it away when she wasn't paying it enough attention.

"Hold it up."

"I don't get it, Myst, why do you. . ." he started, but placed it between his index, middle, and ring fingers and his thumb, propping it straight up for her to get a good look at it. Good, she surmised, it was still in one unscratched, un-nibbled piece.

"Now promise me, Ash Ketchum, that you'll take the first opportunity you find to use that lure. I don't care what plans you have otherwise made or if you only put it in the water for a minimum of fifteen minutes. . . As long as you're moderately careful with it, as long as you try to take care of it, and as long as I get the first punch free if the time should come when you do let something permanent happen to it," she faltered with a dangerous smirk, "then it's fine."

"But what if I-"

"-Ash, I'm telling you that I don't care about any of that! It's supposed to be useful, so I'm telling you to use it!"

". . . Alright, alright. I promise the first two things but as far as the third one goes, I'll raise you." he countered her smirk with a confident grin of his own, "I'd rather just promise that you won't even get that chance. What do ya say?"

"Works for me."

Both of them did a funny little number, raising a hand to the screen and the thousands of miles between them and curling a pinky towards one another as if making a promise.

Suddenly Misty yawned long and loud. Darn, that one had escaped her before she'd had any chance of holding it back.

"Oops, looks like I might have kept you up a little longer than planned. Sorry about that." Ash said to her with a soft smile. Misty understood anyway. It was nice to talk to her best friend, and nothing was worth apologizing for when you came out that happy in the end.

"Nah, it's fine, though I probably should get off soon. Was there anything else you needed to talk to me about?"

"Nope, I think you've beaten enough sense into me for one night. I might have to call you back by the end of the week for round two though. . ." he replied jokingly, waving her off, "Maybe I'll destroy another girl's bike or have to face off against another evil megalomaniac or something. . . But honestly, Myst, I do feel a lot better now. Thanks for that, I guess."

"Well, if you need any advice or possibly a good smack to the head, give me a call. Im always willing to oblige," a Cheshire grin enveloped her features as she rubbed her hands together almost excitedly.

"Don't I know it. . . " he grumbled in response, one of his hands rubbing at his scalp, "And to think I missed you anyway." He didn't give her a chance to reply to such an admission, deciding to hurry and end their conversation now that he was both thoroughly humbled and embarrassed. "Well, I think I've heard all I needed to hear tonight. Sweet dreams, Myst. I'll try and call you again soon."

It seemed like another gamble he was willing to take, or else another promise he was willing to make.

"Alright, okay. Have a nice afternoon, Ash. And when the time comes, you be sure to have a nice sleep too."

It was a good thing she lingered in placing the receiver back on the hook (a touch of misplaced romanticism), otherwise she would have missed what he said.

". . . never thought. . . ugly anyway. . ."

"Come again?"

"Uh, nothing, I didn't say anything at all, you must be hearing things, Misty, goodnight!"

He managed it all in one instant before hanging up on her. She was so shocked that she was still sitting there with the receiver attached to her ear almost a minute later when the operator tone jingled at her, followed by a mechanical voice telling her that her call had been disconnected.

She finally hung up too, an unnaturally wide smile on her face.

And, many a thousand miles away, Ash held that so-called special lure in his palm, finally embracing it as a link in the chain tying him to his best friend. He pocketed it, as much a good luck charm as it was going to be a key item in his future travels through Sinnoh. It wasn't so bad to look at either. Kind of cute, really. . .

Tonight would be filled with sweet dreams after all.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Whew! I hope that came out okay. I love that little Misty lure and I always will! It's shocking to think that, until my updates on FFN today (including this one-shot and the second - and final - part of _Tactless_), I've never mentioned or written about it in my fics. I feel bad now. . . But at the same time, writing these makes me think about it a lot. I mean, it was a rather unnecessary piece, wasn't it? There was no reason for the writers/producers/whoever of the Pokemon anime to add it in there except for the thought that it would include Misty in the series without her actually being there, as in, for the sake of ensuring she still existed and was close to Ash despite them not seeing each other since before Kanto Battle Frontier.

Well, whatever, maybe it's just me. Hehe.

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the first part of this series, "Unlikely Coincidence". I feel like I've already started off on a better foot than most of the other AaML one-shot series I've seen online, even with only seven reviews. . . Although I feel a little bit guilty for admitting it. I hope I get as many reviews for this one too! Maybe more!

Btw, if you squint you'll find that - yes - this one did include some shipping hintage. Hah! I told you that I'd throw some of that in there! But remember that this series is, first and foremost, about their friendship so there will only be hints! Sorry!

Uh, anyway, please review!


	3. The In Between

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'. (Creative, I know. . . =P)

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, this is going to be a combination of two one-shot series I wanted to write about Ash and Misty. (Apparently one-shot series are the new thing, though I hope mine will be a tad more popular than some of the others I've seen out there recently.) Some of these fics are going to be about methods of communication between the two of them (basically a bunch of phone-call fics showing that they're still close, still best friends who are _trying _to remain as such) while the other part of these fics was going to be about miscellaneous moments in time (both friendly and romantic).

Please note that, as stated in the first one-shot I posted, these are all unrelated to one another and completely random. I'll try to include a setting underneath the one-shot title so that you have a relative idea of where or when this takes place. If I don't tell you where or when, then it's not a big deal whether you know or not.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**OnE-sHoT tItLe **- "The In-Between"

**Time-frame **- beginning of Hoenn League, during Ash's first visit to Petalburg (meaning before Max has even officially joined the group).

. . . **b**_e_C**a**_U_s**E** _c_O**m**_M_u**N**_i_C**a**_Ti_**O**_n_ I**s** _A_ t**W**_o_-W**a**_Y_ s**T**_r_E**e**_T_. . .

**Summary **- Ash is given a message from Misty about a month after parting with her in Viridian City.

**O**o**O**o**O**

_"Nurse - um, sorry - I mean Agent Joy, where are you going now?" Misty asked, holding Togepi tightly to her chest as always, her heart encouraged by the fact that she had just aced her gym leader examination by the League and gotten a temperamental Gyarados to consider her his trainer all in one short, action-packed afternoon._

_"I'm heading to the Hoenn region; more official PIA business." replied the nurse-turned-League-official._

_"Would you do a really big favor for me?" In truth, Misty knew Joy owed her nothing, and was actually very grateful for the assistance she had been offered already. Something in the back of her mind told her that if either of those two agents she'd seen on television had been the ones to inspect her Gym, she already would've been stripped of her title and forced to leave the premises._

_"Uh-huh?" But Joy was as kind as ever, always willing to help a trainer when they asked for it. And the two of them had bonded quite well over the past forty-eight hours._

_"Well, if you happen to meet a guy named Ash, who's a Pokemon trainer, would you tell him his friend Misty finally made it as a Gym Leader?" she asked, trying to hold back the urge to say it all in one, overly excited breath. She had to be casual though, had to fight it._

_"Sure, I'd be glad to!"_

_And the two young women bid farewell to one another and went on to tend to their business._

**O**o**O**

Ash and Brock strode into the Petalburg Pokemon Center to get Pikachu and their other Pokemon checked up on. May was still back home, reconciling with her family and "lovingly helping her darling little brother pack" so that he could join their group on the road. By "lovingly", she meant that she was blankly allowing her mom to go on and on about Max's diet and laundry and bedtime, and by "darling little brother", she meant that annoying little twerp - (Team Rocket reference, anyone?) - that she'd had to endure for the previous ten years of her life.

But really, she loved him a lot. You know, _maybe_.

Anyway, as they approached the front counter of the Poke-Center, they were in for quite the shock. Two Nurse Joys stood before them, although only one wore the typical uniform of a registered nurse. The other one was dressed in a white shirt, violet pants, and a peach-colored jacket. A duffle bag was slung over her shoulder as the two of them talked amongst themselves.

Brock was beside himself, already drooling as a thousand different pick-up lines circled around his head. He was just about ready to make his approach when Ash decided to beat him to the punch for once, rushing forward with a sleeping Pikachu in his arms.

"Hi Nurse Joy! Uh, I hope I'm not interrupting or anything but do you think you could heal my Pokemon?" he asked awkwardly, waiting for the pleasant woman to take Pikachu into her arms before he went to remove the Pokeballs clasped to his belt.

"Sure, just give me one moment to register them. . ." she said as her assistant Chansey wheeled up a rather comfortable looking stretcher and laid the electric mouse down on it. Then Nurse Joy turned to her computer and began typing furiously into it. A few beeps later, she faced Ash again and bowed politely. "Thank you for your patience. Your trainer ID has been registered and your name will be called over the PA system in a few hours once your Pokemon have been revitalized."

She paused for a few moments after Ash nodded and thanked her as well and, before returning to continue her conversation with her strangely-dressed (well, for a Joy) relative, noticed something peculiar behind him.

"Oh, did your friend need his Pokemon checked in too?"

Ash turned to Brock with a quirked eyebrow before throwing his hands up and waving them back and forth. He didn't much appreciate the future breeder's flirtatious behavior and he definitely didn't want to give him an opening to, how you say, _attack_. He had never been very good at restraining Brock during his bouts of uncontrollable insanity. It was one thing he had always left to Misty, and she'd done such a duty quite the justice.

"Uh, no, he's fine for now," Ash stuttered, though his flailing arms slowed before falling limp at his sides and a melancholy expression fitted to his face.

Misty. . . He'd been trying not to think of her not being around. Brock being back had eased the initial blow he'd felt on the outskirts of Viridian that day when both of his friends had told him they'd had to return home. But not everything had gone back to normal, of course. There were still times when he would fully expect to hear her voice only to be sorely disappointed, like her shrieking in the morning to the unpleasant surprise that was a Caterpie wiggling its way into her sleeping bag, or else he'd practically imagine her humming softly at night as a way of easing her baby Togepi to sleep. He even made a couple of simple mistakes in battle and had automatically flinched in wait of the furious screeching tone she would obviously use to berate him.

And then, of course, there was the thing that Ash was having trouble preventing now, that was Brock's hormonal, girl-crazy habits.

In all honesty, he was quite the glutton for punishment. At least, he would be if it was her doing the punishing.

He hadn't realized that he was going off on an internal tangent, however, and didn't hear Brock calling his name a few times before he'd even comprehended what was going on. Well, best to put on a smile and respond. He shouldn't waste time wondering and worrying about Misty. He was sure she'd be just fine, even if they hadn't talked once since he'd last seen her in Kanto.

"Hey, something wrong?" Brock finally intervened with a hand clapped to the younger boy's shoulder.

". . . Uh. . . yeah? What's up, Brock?" Ash replied, shaking himself out of the stupor and finally recognizing the concern in his friend's voice. Well, he _had _basically blanked out after giving his Pokemon to Nurse Joy and been unresponsive for a good five minutes more.

But then he also recognized the large rivers of tears running down Brock's face.

"Wow, what did I miss? Did you get rejected again while I wasn't paying attention?" he laughed, pointing obnoxiously.

"No! It's not true!" wailed the future breeder, apparently in distress over whatever had transpired during that five minutes when the younger Pokemon trainer had been otherwise occupied. Then he bottled up his vastly unmanly feelings and attempted to cope like a courageous male part of the human species. So, basically, he just acted like it hadn't happened. "So, are we going back to the Gym at all today?"

"Nah, probably not. Pikachu's pretty worn out and I figure May needs some time with her family before we head out. She won't see them again for awhile. Plus I know for sure. . . I'm no match for her dad yet. We'll come back to Petalburg after my Hoenn team is a little stronger. I'll challenge him then."

"Not a bad plan. . . Well then, I guess we could go shopping for supplies and then come back to get something to eat at the cafeteria while your Pokemon are being healed. In fact, let's reserve our room now and get it out of the way. Oh, Nurse-"

"-Whoa there, Brock, I've got this," and Ash turned towards the counter again just in time to hear the two Joys talk to each other some more.

". . . I needed to stop by and see my second cousin of course, since I was in the area already for PIA business. I've heard wonderful things about the Petalburg gym. It shouldn't take more than a few hours. But anyway, how have you been? I mean, your great-niece is getting married in a few months-"

"-NO!" Brock shouted again abysmally.

Both Joys faltered again and stared at the two boys.

"Is he alright?" asked the pretty woman in strange clothes.

"Yup, just fine, don't worry about it. Hey Nurse Joy, could we reserve a room at the Center tonight? Two beds if possible."

"Sure, give me another moment. . ." She typed a few more keys in before facing Ash with her ever-present smile, "It looks like room twenty-one is open. I'll book you now. . . And here is your card key." She handed it to him and he turned to leave again - (he was getting pretty tired of standing in one spot) - but something else dawned on him and he did another one-eighty.

"Oh, uh. . . Nurse Joy?" Of course he wasn't sure of referring to her by this title since she wasn't wearing the usual costume that all of her relatives did. But she turned to face him anyway so he continued, "uh, I was thinking that it might be better if you waited until tomorrow to go visit the Petalburg gym. I - I mean, I know it's not my place or business, but I know that May - uh, their daughter who had left to start her journey - came back for a visit. . . I was thinking that they might want to spend this time together as a family, you know, before she leaves again. . ." he finished stuttering, bowing in apology to the two women standing before him because he knew he was definitely stepping out of line. But he knew just how rare it was to have time with family after one started their journey to become a Pokemon Master.

"Oh, is that right?" Joy smiled kindly at him for telling her such news, always a pleasure and not wanting to intrude on such a thing either, "Thank you for letting me know. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow then." She bowed to him as well before turning back to her relative behind the counter and asking to reserve a room for the night.

Ash smiled to himself, feeling like he'd accomplished a small something worthwhile, before he turned on his heel and followed a still-sobbing Brock out of the Center and to the local Mart.

**O**o**O**

"So we meet again," Joy couldn't help smiling as she said so, withdrawing her hand from the fruit cup both she and Ash had attempted to grab at the same time.

It was sometime later, after Ash and Brock had returned from shopping for things they would need to have in stock after they left town. Of course, the younger trainer was feeling rather starved by now, and so he'd retreated to the cafeteria while Brock went to pack away everything they'd bought.

Ash, single-minded as always, snatched up the aforementioned fruit cup for himself, though not forgetting to smile in greeting at the woman before him. He stopped short of referring to her as a Pokemon Nurse, because who knew if she had anything to do with the profession the rest of her family was a part of, especially since she refused to dress for it.

"Yeah, I guess so. I should thank you for listening to me earlier. May happens to be a friend of mine, and I know she missed her family before coming back home today so I'm grateful you'd let her spend time with them before she leaves again tomorrow."

"She's got a great friend in you if you'd stick up for her like that. Not that I'd want to ruin the moment either. I can wait one more day before going to evaluate the gym. I suppose it wouldn't be worth leaving Petalburg altogether and coming back later, would it?" She faltered for a moment, pressing a finger to her chin as she considered the plan, ". . . If you say she's leaving tomorrow, it should be fine to wait here. Norman already knows someone from PIA is coming to visit anyway. It would probably cause more trouble if I suspended the visit until the end of my travels through Hoenn, wouldn't it?" Finally she stopped and shook herself out of her thoughts, "Oh, I'm sorry for going off like that. You can ignore what I was saying, I was just thinking to myself. . ."

"Oh. Sure. . ."

"So, where's that friend of yours? Is he feeling better?"

"Who, Brock? Yeah, he's fine. He told me he was just going to put our bags in the room we rented out. We had to go shopping for supplies. May isn't really good at doing it without being distracted by the latest fashion magazines yet, but she's learning. . . Anyway, I'm sorry if I'm wrong for asking this, but I've been wondering about it all day. . . Why aren't you dressed like any of the other Nurse Joys? And you said something about PIA and inspecting Pokemon gyms?"

The two of them wandered a little further down the line, filling their trays with food, before paying and incidentally walking in the same direction to find a couple of seats.

"Oh, PIA is a registered subordinate program of the Pokemon League. It was founded through Kanto's division although, technically, the same agents are licensed to visit all regions. We basically travel to Pokemon gyms and ensure that the current trainer in charge is still keeping everything up to code. We check up on the Pokemon used in battle to make sure they're healthy and cared for and we inspect the arena used for battles to see if it's in shape for continued participation. In some cases, we'll write citations and ask that the gym leader takes care of the problems we've noticed. We'll visit again in a few months to make sure they have. However, in other cases. . . we'll see so many things wrong with the establishment, or else notice the gym leader is unfit for employment, and we'll either hire someone new or else demolish the building."

Ash, who had just decided to take a drink of his soda, couldn't help spitting it back out.

"_Demolish_? You'd really have to go so far? Have you done that recently?" For some reason, his heartbeat picked up as he thought about all of the gym leaders he'd come to know personally, even Brock and. . . Misty. Both of his friends had families who owned Pokemon gyms back home. . .

"Once or twice. It's unfortunate, and sometimes it isn't even the host trainers fault. We look at every aspect of the situation before making our final decision. Demolition is only used in the worst cases and we always rebuild afterwards. After all, trainers need to gain badges from eight regional gyms before they can enter the League."

"Right, of course you'd rebuild. . . But still. . ." He bit his lip and refused to ask the question that sat at the front of his mind in a straight-forward fashion. What would he do if the answer he feared most was the one he received? "So what regions have you gone to?"

"Me, personally? Well, I was asked to take over a couple of gyms in Sinnoh and Unova," both places Ash had never heard of so he breathed easy, "oh, and there was one in Kanto that was put on hold because there was a change in gym leader."

"Was it Pewter? My friend Brock, his family owns the gym in that city."

"No, although there was a little bit of trouble there too. Apparently one of the co-signers of the contract the League had put together wanted to change the element the gym used against their opponents. It wouldn't have been so troublesome except that Kanto already has a water-type gym leader. In the end, the original element stayed in play of course. I believe Flint, the registered trainer, was very excited about that. . ."

"W - water-type. . ." Ash tapered off as he watched Brock enter the cafeteria and head up to the line to get his own tray. He must not have noticed the two of them sitting there yet then because he never would have ignored the chance to flirt with a Joy, no matter _what _her profession. "The one in Cerulean, right?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. That was the one I mentioned earlier. The three registered trainers in charge went on an extended leave of absence and so their younger sister was supposed to come and relieve them. However she ran a little late so the gym went almost forty-eight hours without anyone in charge and able to accept challenges. By the time she got there, I was already waiting for her."

Ash gulped. That didn't sound to him like good news. A registered Pokemon gym without a trainer sitting and waiting for challenges?

"The former gym leaders had a fan base and the local charter sent some trainers over to watch the gym until their relative had arrived. Although it usually isn't allowed, I made an exception because of the extenuating circumstances. It seemed she - that is to say, the sister - had been traveling different regions with friends of hers so it had been difficult to get in touch with her. My relatives do nothing but talk to trainers who are constantly on the move so I understand such a thing."

Ash heaved a deep sigh of relief. Everything must have gone alright then. . .

"Of course, there isn't really an excuse for a gym leader who can't control their Pokemon."

"What?"

_Darn it_, he couldn't help thinking, _if that Psyduck of hers ruined her chances of being a gym leader_. . .

"Given, Gyarados are pretty temperamental and to have his proper trainers leave him alone before they'd had a chance to tether him completely, it really wasn't fair to their little sister to have to walk in on that. She had a lot of trouble taming him, especially after he tried drowning her. . ."

Ah, so it wasn't Psyduck? Wait, wait. . .

"He did _what_?" It took a lot of self-control for him to not leap to his feet. Misty, his best friend, nearly died, drowned. . . by a Pokemon. . . She was supposed to be working hard. . . She was supposed to succeed. . . What evil spirit had decided she needed to be the unlucky target of such troubles?

Joy smiled softly at him though, appreciative towards his sympathies with that girl she'd met back in Cerulean awhile ago.

"They just needed to learn how to trust each other. Misty had been scared of Gyarados most of her life," Ash felt a sudden jab at the thought of his best friend being scared of a water-type Pokemon, considering her specialty, and an even worse stab at the thought that it was something he'd never known about her, although she seemed to spill her secret to this Agent Joy so easily, "and Gyarados had no reason to put faith in a trainer who had just walked in and tried to command him without any effort of her own. She ended up having to cage him for awhile, something she truly hated doing. But there was no choice since he wouldn't return to his Pokeball and had become a threat to her and others. But then those three trainers showed up and decided to start trouble. . ."

"Three trainers? Who?"

"I don't remember their names now, but they seemed to be holding a grudge against her for something that had happened between them before she'd come back home. They broke a lot of League rules when they challenged her though. They used three Pokemon against her Corsola so she had to jump in and save her Pokemon on her own. I tried to disqualify them but they kept going and decided to attack Gyarados instead."

"Gyarados. . . but you said Misty had caged him because he was so dangerous. . . So wasn't he still. . . ?"

"Yes. . ." Joy's gaze dropped to her fork as she began playing with her salad. She hadn't thought she would lose her appetite so much just from thinking back on everything that had happened during that inspection of the Cerulean City gym. "And Misty wasn't going to let it happen. She dived back in the water again and placed herself between the three Pokemon opposing her and the Gyarados, taking the brunt of the _poison sting_ attack."

_Poison sting_. She had. . . Misty had done that. . .

Words clawed their way up Ash's throat but he held them back by clenching his mouth tightly shut and biting his lip. It was true that he hadn't talked to her since she'd gone home. . . but had such a thing really happened to her? How could he have gone on not knowing the true pressures of becoming a gym leader? And to let his best friend go through that without somehow supporting her, somehow being there for her. . .

Without realizing, one of his hands had rested on his forehead and began to rub tenderly at his temple. He hadn't known. He hadn't known, but what kind of excuse was that? Not knowing? If he had bothered to call her, even _once_, she probably would have told him something. Anything. Everything. If he had just tried to make contact, he would have gotten answers for any question he would have had for her.

How was she doing?

Had she run into any really troublesome trainers since going home?

Was she maintaining a good reputation as the tough new gym leader?

Did she think about him once in awhile, maybe when some dense, egotistical kid happened to walk in and challenge her?

Was she nostalgic for the times they'd traveled together on the road?

. . . Was she too busy to talk to him?

. . . Did she even remember him at all?

Was he really so scared of some of those answers that he couldn't even dial her phone number? How - how stupid. . . ! What cowardice! What a sorry, pitiful, no good excuse!

"Hey, I finally found you!" Brock wandered up with a smile, interrupting Ash's private moment and causing him to nearly jump up into the air. Of course, almost immediately after, the breeder recognized Joy (still dressed in her unfamiliar garments) and he began to drool before going off on a tirade of flirty comments.

"Oh Joy, your beauty continues to blind me every time I come close to you!" He dropped his tray onto the table (thankfully not tossing any of his food overboard) and grabbed one of her hands in his own, staring at her with a sparkling background and a glittering, toothy smile. "And yet my heart still pounds at the sound of your gentle voice and soft touch! Please heal my sight and I'll look only at you for the rest of our lives!"

"My, so charming. . . You must love your little sisters, to read and recite lines from their favorite romance novels like that." Joy assumed with a chuckle, calmly pulling away from him and not noticing the broken expression that overcame his features a moment later.

Ash would have apologized on Brock's behalf if he hadn't been so busy thinking of everything Misty must have gone through upon returning home. After all, she had probably failed that inspection, hadn't she? Not that it was her fault at all, so many things seemed to have chosen the perfect time to go wrong for her, but she was probably pretty stressed out while preparing for the PIA agent's return visit.

Or - or maybe it was even worse than that. . .

He gulped again and attempted to dislodge the strange substance that had set in his throat. Stupid Misty. . . He wasn't supposed to be worrying about her when she wasn't even by his side anymore! Now that she was back in Cerulean, she wasn't supposed to be causing him problems! She was her own responsibility!

Joy seemed to be finished eating and rose from her seat, picking up her tray and turning in the direction of the nearest trashcan.

"Ah, could you wait? I really need to know what happened after that! W - was she okay?" Ash leapt from his seat as well as though to follow after her, his own appetite strangely quashed by the unfortunate news he'd just received.

Joy turned with her ever-present smile to answer him but was interrupted by the static of the PA system as an intercom blared into play around them. The other Joy, still sitting in the Center lobby, spoke through it.

"Trainer ID K-10294, Ash Ketchum, your Pokemon are fully healed and waiting for you at the front counter. Thank you." A soft ding-dong sound rang and the intercom shut down again for the time being.

Ash, for his part, was rather torn. He hadn't seen his buddy Pikachu for most of the day and wanted to make sure he was really alright, but he still didn't know everything he needed to know about Misty. . . And though this Joy was still standing before him, she was probably getting ready to retire for the night, and who knew if he'd be able to find out more from her later on. . . ?

"Ah, could you excuse me for a second? I just need to go get my Pokemon back from Nurse, um, Joy. . ."

"Wait, your name is Ash?" she asked, continuing to hold her tray with one hand while she pointed at him curiously with the other.

"Huh? Ah, yeah, that's me." He stopped again, turning to face her, trying to figure out how she couldn't possibly have known that already. . . But, come to think of it, he'd never properly introduced himself to her, and nobody had bothered to speak his name aloud before now.

"And you said your friend's family owns the gym in Pewter. . . which means you've probably been to Kanto, right?" He nodded and she continued, "Do you _know _Misty?" She had thought that his sympathy only stretched the capacity of one caring human to another. But if he knew her personally then he must be. . .

"Uh, yeah, I do. She's my best friend. We traveled together before she had to go back home." For some reason, he felt quite proud of the relationship he shared with her and couldn't help explaining their bond with confidence. It also helped his conscience to use present-tense, 'she _is_' rather than 'she _was_'. They were still the best of friends after all.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's just. . . since I was the one who evaluated the Cerulean gym, Misty asked me to pass along a message to an Ash if I happened to run across him in Hoenn. I assume she's talking about you. Well, at least now I feel a little better about divulging so many details about her situation. . . I mean, nothing legally binds me to silence with my job but since you're her friend. . ." she rambled on and Ash felt the prickling of impatience flutter up from the back of his mind. "Anyway, she wanted me to tell you that she finally made it as a gym leader."

"Made it. . . as gym leader. . . So she. . . she didn't fail the evaluation?" he asked, his voice cracking in relief. He had really thought that she'd failed, and even worse, now he felt guilty about feeling that way all along. He should of had more faith in her, right?

She smiled at him again before speaking, "On the contrary, she passed with flying colors. I'm very proud of her. She'll make an excellent gym trainer for Cerulean City. She'll probably surpass her sisters in a couple of years."

"W - what about those trainers who cheated in the battle?"

"They've been reported to League HQ and their licenses have probably already been revoked by now."

"And. . . the Gyarados?"

"He's probably her strongest ally. Nothing can strengthen the bonds of companionship between Pokemon and trainer quite like physically defending each other from an enemy onslaught."

"Ash, what's going on?" Brock intervened, finally realizing that a serious conversation seemed to be taking place before him. He shook himself out of his love struck reverie and attempted to play catch-up with the topic of discussion.

"All in all, I'd say Misty handled herself and the situation very well. You should be proud of her."

"I - I am. I mean, of course I am! She's my best friend, right?" he replied, gathering up his trash and preparing to throw it out. He suddenly felt very antsy, just standing there, doing nothing. Maybe it was because he still needed to get Pikachu and his other Pokemon back from Nurse Joy, or maybe it was something else. . .

"Yes, well, I think I'll go to bed now. Thanks again for telling me about Petalburg gym. Have a nice night, you two."

Agent Joy walked away, dumping her tray and walking back towards the lobby, probably heading for her room. Ash followed suit quickly, turning back again and relaying a quick-notes version of the story he'd just been told to Brock, who nodded, offering his thoughts on some of it.

"Sounds like those chumps from Viridian City, those three brothers who were hired by Team Rocket. I've never met any other trainers with such blatant disregard for League battle policies. And using multiple Pokemon against one adversary is exactly what they did the first time we battled." He quickly stuffed the food he'd picked from the line down his throat so that he could join Ash in getting his Pokemon back. "So. . . what are you gonna do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I guess. . . I'm not too sure myself. I just thought you'd want to do something in response to this."

"Well, Joy said the trainers who broke battle rules were already reported to the League, and she said Misty's doing fine now. . . Why should I get involved?"

"It's not really a matter of _should_. Don't you _want _to get involved though? Like you said, she's your best friend. No matter what else you're feeling, after hearing about everything she's accomplished since going home, you probably have something you need to say to her, don't you?"

"Me. . . ?"

But Brock was most likely right. He definitely felt like he owed her at least an ear she could spew stories to. He could listen to what she had to say for awhile, as much as she'd have to listen to him whenever something interesting happened on his journey through Hoenn, right? And he had to tell her that he was _maybe_, just a _little _bit impressed by her accomplishments. And maybe even _more _than just a little bit. . .

Finally, a (mediocre) game plan set into motion in his head, he turned to Brock again.

"Do you have Misty's phone number?"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Alright, first thing's first. I know that the reaction Ash and friends had during the fake Togepi festival was too shocking for them to know about Gyarados all along. So we can either say Ash forgot about the stories Joy had told him by that time or - as stated in other summaries - this story can exist in an entirely different realm. Lol.

To be honest, I always wanted to write on the basis of Misty's short discussion with Agent Joy at the end of the episode, _Cerulean Blues_. I thought it would really be awesome if we could follow up that moment with Ash actually running into Joy in Hoenn so that she could give him that message. . . So cool. . . so cute!

I used the trainer ID number I gave Ash in _Illicit Saints _for this one-shot. It makes me laugh. . . and it's also kind of nostalgic. Awe, I miss that fic now. . . !

Ah, anyway, I hope I pulled it off. I never actually saw the episode where Ash, May, and Brock first reached Petalburg, at least, not that I remember. Hehe. But I tried to put together a situation that would cause him to meet up with Joy outside of the gym, and just telling him the message would have been too boring so I decided to beat around the bush by not announcing Ash's name in front of Joy until the very end. It was kind of fun holding identities back from characters as I write them out.

Well, anyway, reviews would be nice. If any of you guys saw shipping in this one, I'd be mightily impressed, considering I wasn't going for that at all. I just wanted to write Ash missing Misty. That's cute enough in my book, and totally makes sense for his personality. Ah, well. . .

Tata! Until next time!


	4. Kids

**Disclaimer **- I don't own Pokemon. Or anything else, for that matter.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, this is going to be a combination of two one-shot series I wanted to write about Ash and Misty. (Apparently one-shot series are the new thing, though I hope mine will be a tad more popular than some of the others I've seen out there recently.) Some of these fics are going to be about methods of communication between the two of them (basically a bunch of phone-call fics showing that they're still close, still best friends who are _trying _to remain as such) while the other part of these fics was going to be about miscellaneous moments in time (both friendly and romantic).

Please note that, as stated in the first one-shot I posted, these are all unrelated to one another and completely random. I'll try to include a setting underneath the one-shot title so that you have a relative idea of where or when this takes place. If I don't tell you where or when, then it's not a big deal whether you know or not.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**OnE-sHoT tItLe **- "Kids"

**Time-frame **- after Hoenn League, during Misty's visit to Pallet Town preceding Kanto Battle Frontier.

. . . **b**_E_c**A**_u_S**e** _S_o**M**_e_ B**o**_N_d**S **_a_R**e** _M_o**R**_e_ I**m**_P_o**R**_t_A**n**_T_ t**H**_a_N **l**_O_v**E** . . .

**Summary **- There's a reason for childhood heroes being so unrealistic. How could they even bear to understand the weight of that responsibility?

**O**o**O**o**O**

Misty knew she should have been proud of him.

She was visiting Ash's house for the first time in over two years, was seeing him (and Brock, and May, and Max) for the first time in months. The events of the fake Togepi festival had faded out now, bleak images and a dull aching hurt all that was left when she looked back on it. She still missed Togepi but at the same time she was so proud. Her baby had stood up against Colonel Hansen and saved the world she'd originally journeyed from.

So why wasn't it the same story now?

Maybe it reminded her too much of the adventures she used to accompany him on. So many times when they'd fought against Team Rocket, far and few in between those times when they'd fought alongside Team Rocket. . . And then there was Mewtwo and Lugia and the Unown and Latias, Latios, Celebi. . . Maybe she was simply melancholy, missing out on all of the scrapes and bumps that had helped them grow so close.

Maybe she was a little angry. Ash had rarely ever bothered to call her since they'd parted ways, and when he did follow through with his promise of remaining best friends, he'd never bothered to mention such perilous feats. Maybe she was frustrated, feeling excluded from his current journeys, like he was pushing her away.

But no, none of those possibilities seemed to ring true. All she could think, as she sat there and listened to May prattle on and on about things that had gone on since they'd all last seen her (and even a few from _before _the Togepi festival), was how mortified, terrified, she was. Every detail seemed like an extra ounce added to the weight of an invisible world on her shoulders. . .

But why?

She hadn't been there, or else anywhere near there when Ash had been going through all of that. It wasn't like she'd simply sat on the sidelines and waited for him to return to her. (She turned quickly scarlet and waited for it to fade from her cheeks at the thought of how pathetically _romantic_ that sounded.) She couldn't have done anything to assist him, she couldn't have offered him any advice or comfort or anything.

Nothing. She couldn't have done a thing.

She didn't do a thing the whole time Ash was defending himself - (or else the world) - from Deoxys, Rayquaza, or else during his adventure in helping Lucario and being crowned _Hero of the Year _- (_more like _every _year_, Misty scoffed internally) - before May was circling back to discuss Jirachi. At some point, she realized, Ash had decided against responding to events the Hoenn native told and retold, choosing instead to just sit back against the sofa and grin blankly.

Misty couldn't help feeling agitated. Ash always had trouble giving up the spotlight. He was probably only holding himself back from talking so that everyone could admire him as May spoke of his many heroic actions. He really needed to get off his high Rapidash sometimes, geez, like everyone would just sit back and stare at him in awe. . .

Misty grit her teeth before silently turning her nose up at him. Not that he seemed to notice. He was still grinning, but his rather vacant-looking stare seemed to have settled on the archway leading into the kitchen, where Mrs. Ketchum was washing dishes and humming to herself.

There was something so strange about it that Misty decided to give up feeling so bitter for the time being.

May explained (mostly for Misty's benefit, seeing as everyone else had been there at the time) about how Jirachi had become attached to Max, how Max had responded to that friendship and how scared he'd been to lose Jirachi in the end. She mentioned how he'd freaked out on her one night while she'd been making her wish on the millennium comet (though she still refused to tell what that wish had been), how he'd run away, crying like a little baby. She sounded as if she were making fun of her little brother, but the expression she wore seemed more nostalgic, concerned, and maybe even a bit curious.

"But apparently someone else told Max exactly what he needed to hear." she continued mysteriously, "Because when he came back, he seemed to be perfectly fine."

With this announcement, Ash seemed to return to the present, comprehension dawning on his face. But still he didn't say anything. Misty would have liked to ask him about it but figured this probably wasn't a good time. Besides, she noted internally, May still hadn't finished with her own story.

So Butler's mission to get revenge on Team Magma was explored, followed by his duped second attempt at resurrecting Groudon from the small DNA sample he'd been carrying with him for so long. Instead a deadly look-alike had come to be, in possession of the power to suck all life from the planet. Even then, the guy hadn't realized what he'd been doing was wrong, hadn't considered that he should turn back and try to reverse it all, to save everyone.

Not until Diane's sacrifice.

Misty would admit, as much as she'd wanted to slap him all along for his stupid decision to bring forth one of the most destructive Pokemon in existence, let alone to botch it up twice and then give up when everything had gone as far south as possible, this part of the story had touched her.

As the resident romantic of their group (although apparently not the _only _one, she decided, upon seeing May's star-stuck expression), she could only sigh as little hearts fluttered around her head. A man who would risk his life for his childhood sweetheart, and vice versa. Too bad _her _"childhood sweetheart" only seemed to risk his life for Pokemon.

Hm, maybe if she dressed up in a giant Pikachu costume. . .

She halted the thought process there as scarlet flushed across her face. Yeah, this was definitely _not _a good time. She would just have to wait - possibly forever - for that. Besides, she knew better than to fight a losing battle, right?

Note that this was _completely different _than all those times she'd tried getting her sisters to admit that she was the better trainer, or else all those times she'd pulled Brock away from another potential sexual harassment lawsuit.

She definitely, no-doubt-about-it, obviously knew better.

Anyway, May went on and on, up until the time when she claimed both she and Brock had been separated from Ash's group by the fake Groudon and merged with him instead. She switched POV's to what she had gathered, or else what Max had explained to her, after the fact, taking place before everything had been set right again.

Apparently, Ash and Max had served as a distraction to the creature, soaring around on Flygon's back while Butler had reversed his contraption, originally claiming it would suck in the power Jirachi had gathered from the comet with his third eye. This way, it would instead pull the power back from the creature and return it to Jirachi, where it belonged.

A few bumps, scrapes, and near-death experiences later and everything had worked out for the better. Butler and Diane, now finally on the same page, had decided to remain in Forina, Jirachi's home.

And May, Max, Brock, Pikachu, and Ash had all moved onward, towards other adventures and perilous experiences.

Huh, no wonder she was having so much trouble being proud.

She knew her claims to be unfounded, she knew that if she'd been there, going through the motions alongside Ash just like a couple years ago, this wouldn't be such a big deal. She would have _been there_, she could have kept her eye on him, she could have helped him, maybe even _saved _him had the situation called for such drastic measures on her part.

And, to be fair, they rarely did anyway. She didn't even need a whole hand to count the few times she'd been of any real use during one of the deadly situations Ash's reputation, ego, or else fate had forced them into.

But not knowing, not seeing for herself. . . It was so much worse this way.

Maybe her own ego was the problem. Maybe she was a bit of a control freak and just needed to know everything about Ash, where he was, who he'd met recently, what he was doing. . . Maybe she was a jealous teenage girl, worried that May would fall for him like she had (despite never saying it aloud), worried she'd been replaced. . . But no, she'd long since known that May held no such feelings for Ash. And she rarely bothered to call Ash anymore than he bothered calling her. Not because she was holding herself back but more because she was pretty busy being the main gym leader in Cerulean, and she didn't have the time to spend calling multiple city Poke-Centers until she happened to get it right.

Hey, she was settled in one stable position, whereas Ash moved across entire regions in a matter of months! Shouldn't he be the one to call her? And then, there was the careless attitude he'd given her since first walking in the front door and realizing she'd come to see him!

It wasn't like he was embarrassed, or avoiding her. It was like she just didn't really matter anymore.

Misty grit her teeth and pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Imagine that, her _not _wanting to start a fight with Ash. But it seemed like it wouldn't do any good so why should she bother? And she didn't want to be the one making a scene, just to receive a bunch of strange looks from Brock, May, and Mrs. Ketchum.

She was _definitely _not going to be the one at fault here.

So after all the stories were finished, after Misty had shoved all of her agitated thoughts to the back of her mind, after Ash had cleared his own head and finally led everyone off to their visit with Professor Oak and Tracey - (during which Team Rocket had, of course, interrupted with another one of their stupid plans) - everyone returned back to the Ketchum home and sat down to dinner.

May had received word from her parents that Max would be joining them all in the morning before they began their trek towards Saffron City, first stop on the journey to taking on the Kanto Frontier Brains.

Misty had already sent Azuril to bed and was taking a quick shower before joining her baby. May was in their room, humming some sort of lullaby she'd said her mom used to sing at night to put her and Max to sleep. Well, it seemed to work wonders on Pokemon too. . . Everyone was finally in their respective rooms for the night, though she could still see a light on in the one Ash and Brock were sharing. She thought she heard voices too, but it really wasn't any of her business what those two talked about. Evidently they had never thought to include her in on the conversation anyway. . .

She gave a _hmph_ and marched back into her own room, planning to slam the door behind her but realizing at the last second that May had fallen asleep to her own tune and deciding against her original plan to get some attention around here.

Well, whatever.

Unfortunately, and she hadn't thought much about it until now, laying in bed waiting for sleep to come gave her nothing else to do but think.

She was _not _insulted by Ash's behavior towards her. She wasn't upset. She had no reason to be. The same as with the potential phone calls, she hadn't made much effort to talk to him since he'd come back home either. Communication was a two-way street but they'd both been walking the same direction at different paces. At this rate, they'd _never _be able to talk to each other.

Solution? She'd just have to try harder tomorrow. Hopefully, if she kept pushing, Ash would respond.

So back to her original thoughts. Ash just couldn't seem to keep his nose out of trouble. And his close calls seemed to be getting more and more desperate the longer she was away from him. For goodness sake, hadn't he even once considered what would have happened if, during that time when he'd posed as the distraction, that fake Groudon had sucked him in too? The chances that Max and Butler would have been able to succeed without him around were slim to none.

He was just so. . . so. . . _lucky_, and not in a good way. Part of Misty realized that it wasn't as if he ever went looking for this trouble he always seemed to find himself in, but another part of her wondered why he never seemed to find a quicker way out of it. It was impossible for him to walk away. And if she were still traveling around with him, that would have been mostly fine, but could she really keep her hopes up and her faith in the others? Especially when Ash refused to tell her anything about those times.

Maybe he really _was _pushing her away. . .

Or maybe he'd been through the motions so many times that all of these perilous experiences seemed like just another day to him.

Misty continued thinking on it, praying for the time when she'd get _tired _of thinking on it, holding Azuril to her and wondering if the soft, even breathing of both her bunk-mates would be enough to lull her to sleep as well.

Alas, almost two hours after she'd first lain down, she realized it would be impossible. All she knew for sure now was that she was really, really agitated and really, really thirsty.

She silently edged out of her sleeping bag and eased herself away from her baby Pokemon, cautiously reaching her feet and turning to twist the doorknob. She heard the click of the bolt unlatching in the door and hurriedly stepped out into the upstairs hallway, drawing it closed again behind her.

She sighed, not for the first time that day, and drew a hand across her scalp in frustration, walking to the bathroom and intent on using one of the throw-away paper cups to get some water.

She didn't notice the blinking light coming from the living room television downstairs until she was halfway back to the guest room she was sharing with May. She quickly turned back to look at the three bedroom doors and saw no lights on from the slight crack between them and the plush carpet, no doors open and leading to an empty bedroom.

She had assumed everyone else was asleep by now. . . So who was still up at this time of night?

She slowly ambled down the stairs, hand on the banister and careful not to make a sound, only to see the television was on mute and one of Ash's championship round battles from the Indigo League was playing on screen. And sitting there, on the couch, staring blankly at it, was Ash.

There was no mistaking that constant hat-hair.

Misty felt her face automatically form into an exasperatedly irritated expression. She didn't understand why that dense Pokemon Master couldn't wait until morning to re-watch his stupid League recordings. They weren't going anywhere, and he'd have all the time in the world to reevaluate his strategies and choices after a good night's sleep.

"What are you doing?" she finally hissed, her voice catching breath as a laugh tickled her throat, Ash jumping from the shock of not having noticed her before now.

"M - Misty, uh, why are you. . . ?" he started, gulping back his own breath as he stared at her feet, apparently too ashamed or embarrassed or maybe even too scared to stare her in the eyes, ". . . Why are you up?"

"I needed a quick drink of water. What's your excuse? Are you really so egotistical that you'd have to spend all night looking through your old championship home videos?"

She stepped a little closer to him but he still refused to look at her clearly. She was getting more and more annoyed by that. Maybe he really didn't want her here after all. Perhaps he was too worried about what she'd have to say to him about these stupid habits of his.

"I, uh, I wasn't really _watching _them. . ."

"Sitting alone in your living room at nearly one in the morning, lights off, television on and DVD playing. . . Yeah, Ash, I believe you."

"I wasn't. I mean, I wasn't really paying attention. That was just what was in the DVD player already. I guess my mom had been watching them while waiting for me to come back home," a quick sigh for his overly-affectionate mom and he continued, "I was just trying to. . . distract myself, I think. It was working pretty well too, until you came along."

"_Wow_," of all the rude, insufferable things to say! "Fine then, I'll just leave you to your _distractions_, Mr. Pokemon Master." And she turned on her heel and was resolved to march straight back upstairs and into bed, but Ash wasn't finished yet.

"Wait, _wait_! That wasn't what I meant, Myst, I mean it, it's just. . . I said _wait_!" But she definitely didn't care to hear him out. In fact, there was only one thing she wanted to hear from him now. . .

"Jeez, I'm _sorry_, okay?"

She turned back to him and struck an agitated pose, legs bracing her shifting weight, arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow quirked, though the tiniest smile at having forced his hand with an apology playing at her lips. Maybe this trip all the way out to Pallet Town hadn't been a complete waste for her after all. Ash didn't say anything else to her though, even as she slowly stepped closer to him again and noticed the gaunt expression in his eyes.

Okay. . . maybe something really _was _wrong with him.

And, with that thought, she felt her arms slide down to her sides again, the faint traces left from her smirk vanishing in the dark.

"Alright, what's wrong, Ash?"

He shook his head, muttering something along the lines of, _"nothing"_, or else _"none of your business"_, or maybe it was closer to _"I love you"_. . . Hey, she was tired! And a girl can dream, right?

Misty clucked disapprovingly and felt her tongue trace the back of her teeth before stepping around one side of the couch and plopping down beside Ash, who slowly twisted back around and followed suit. Then, for some reason she wasn't entirely sure of, he picked up the nearest remote and switched the television off, despite the DVD player still being on.

The two of them sat alone in the dark of the living room without the courage to say anything to one another for a fair few minutes before Misty knew she had to break the ice or lose her mind.

"Kinda desperate, aren't you?"

"What?" His gaze snapped up immediately, or else, she thought it might have, considering his incredulous tone.

"Apologizing to _me_, Mr. Pokemon Master, just so I won't leave you _all _alone down here. That was a pretty desperate move. Kinda sleazy, really."

"I can take it back if you don't want it-"

"-No," she voiced quickly, quite possibly a bit too loud as well, "I'll just make a mental note and apply it to the list of things you've yet to apologize for. Three down, three hundred and eighty-seven more to go."

"You're telling me that in the five years we've known each other, you've been keeping track of the number of times I should have apologized to you? And the few times that I actually have?" He faltered for a second, apparently working the math, before begging the last question, "How could I _possibly _owe you three hundred and ninety apologies?" he yelped afterwards.

"Because you're dense, tactless, one-track-minded, rude, immature, insulting, stubborn, danger-prone. . ." She would have been more animated had she been able to see him, listing off each of these on her fingers, maybe showing off a few charts and diagrams, but it was pretty much pointless with it being so dark and all.

". . . Oh, so _that_'s what you think." And he fell silent again.

Misty blinked, biting her lip. She had really expected Ash to leap up in arms, maybe list off all her faults as well, possibly claim that she owed him twice as many apologies as he supposedly owed her. But poor, little Ash Ketchum seemed to be in a far greater slump than what she'd thought. Apparently a cheap laugh wasn't enough to pull him out of it.

_Ugh_, that meant she'd have to take it a step further and. . . talk it out with him.

Ew.

"Okay, fine, tell me what's wrong. And if you say _nothing_ again, I'll punch you in the nose."

Ash, perhaps after taking an extra moment to decide if it was worth it or not, seemed to shake his head and strive forward.

"I don't really think about it much but it's always hardest falling asleep right after it happens."

". . . After _what _happens. . . ?"

"And you think I'd be more tired, right? After all the crazy things I sometimes have to do to _save the day_, but it's impossible to sleep right after. I don't think about it, I try not to, but after what happened today, it's kinda just hit me, you know?"

"No, no I don't, Ash. Care to explain?"

Ash took a deep, shuddering breath and Misty was sure she saw his silhouette bracing itself against the faint strips of moonlight filtering through the blinds in the nearby window, his face in his palms and his head shaking as though he couldn't seem to find the words.

"It's just. . . I mean, like I said, I've never really thought of it before now. . . It always came naturally. . . Righting wrongs, fixing the bad, standing up for what I believe in, fighting crazy, maniacal thieves and collectors and - and. . . I just always told myself, without a doubt, _this is the right thing to do_. I still don't think I'm wrong but. . ." Misty didn't notice that she'd automatically begun shaking her head in the dark. Ash hadn't seemed to notice either (though it was barely possible for him to do so, of course).

"I never really thought of it as playing hero, I never realized that this seemed to happen a little bit _too_ often to be realistic. But when it did, when it does, when it will in the future. . . should I have. . . should I just sit back and wait for someone else to do something when I'm right there?"

"Ash. . ."

"Misty," he started, though he still wasn't looking at her as he spoke, "why are you shaking your head?"

"Oh, uh. . ." Darn, so he _had_ noticed. "I don't know. Maybe because I think you're wrong? Or maybe because I'm surprised you're thinking about this at all. I thought I was the only one."

"Yeah," she could just _see _the wry grin on his face, even if she couldn't really, "I guess Ash Ketchum should be too dense to think about these kinds of things. I'm not serious enough for this topic, huh?"

"Ash!" she snapped, "I didn't mean it like that at all!" Honestly, she really just wanted to smack him! "I was just thinking earlier today about this stuff too. I'm only surprised that it seems we're on the same page without me having to beat it through your skull first!"

"Oh. . . is that all? You agree? End of discussion, then, I guess."

"No, no it's not! Because you make a lot of valid points too! If you're standing right there and you have the power to help. . . All of the things you've been through, all of the things I remember going through alongside you when we journeyed together, I feel like I was given a reason to worry about you constantly. You're on my mind a lot, but even more-so _now _after May told me about the extent of your adventures in Hoenn. Ash, why couldn't _you _have been the one to tell me, huh? Do you know what it's like hearing these kinds of stories from anyone other than you? I feel like. . ." It was hard to force the words past the lump in her throat so she faltered and hoped Ash would catch on.

True to his character, however, Ash remained blankly curious, his earlier morbidity fumbling as he heard the sniffle in Misty's tone.

"You feel like what. . . ?"

"I just. . . I feel like. . ." she slipped, before drawing breath and leaping to her feet, the words running from her mouth slightly louder than they probably should have, "Just don't shut me out, okay?"

"Huh? I'm not doing that!" Ash nearly shouted back, then he stopped, cleared his throat, and waited for Misty to breathe deeply in a few times before regaining her seat beside him. She wouldn't look him in the eye though (even though she couldn't see him clearly anyway).

"You are, though! I mean, maybe! But. . . it's like. . . I haven't seen you in a while. . . And I know it's not all you, so don't interrupt, but it's. . . I feel like we only talk about day-to-day stuff, shallow stuff, stuff you can talk to your mom about so she doesn't have to worry about you. Although I know she'll worry anyway, but you wouldn't give her an excuse to chase after you in fear of your life. . . But me. . . You shouldn't be hiding these things from me, Ash, when I traveled with you for three years, after I experienced some of it already! Nothing you're going through now could possibly scare me away! In fact, all I really want is to stay involved with you!"

Her declaration was met with silence, minus the faint shuffling of their bodies as the heat grew between them from their almost-fight.

"I didn't really notice. . . I didn't mean to. . ." But none of those words seemed to get across to her what he was trying to say, ". . . Sorry."

She didn't say anything back at first until, finally, two minutes later, "Three hundred and eighty-six."

"Huh. . . ?" Ash gaped, confused, before cottoning on, "Misty!"

She smiled softly, didn't laugh, but she _did _smile. It seemed to be enough for now. Well, they were getting somewhere then.

"I never meant it that way. I never thought much of it until today when May was talking about it all. . . W - we never, ever talked about any of the things we had to go through or the battles we had to fight. We just ran around and fought our hearts out, and we won and then moved on. I didn't know we were supposed to _talk_ about it."

"It's alright, Ash. We know now, right? It's just. . . Don't you remember that day I had to go back to Cerulean City? We were on the outskirts of Viridian and you told me how there had to be more to our meeting than coincidence. It was fate. So you can't ever push me away, okay? It's my obligation as your best friend to worry about you even when I can't follow you around and keep your head above water. It's my duty to be there for you. Just like it was yours to remind me of the definition of our friendship that time. I'm counting on it."

"Well, I hope you plan on taking responsibility, then, 'cause we might be in for the long haul." Ash gave a quick laugh, seemingly appeased by her confession. "I don't think I can be cured of my saving-people thing over night. There might be some long-term damage, I think I could even use a little rehab."

"Fine, Ash, but just make sure your insurance can cover all of the expenses. My services don't come cheap."

They sat there, seeped in the quiet, for a little while longer. Misty held back a yawn. It was going on two in the morning and the tiredness was finally starting to weigh her down. She looked to Ash. He still seemed oddly alert but she supposed he was just getting used to the strangeness of actually talking to her about something serious without breaking out into a fight along the way.

Maybe they'd both grown up a little, something that nobody would have noticed had they not had the chance to sit down and just _talk._

"Well, c'mon Ash, lets get to bed. We won't get any sleep if we wait much longer. . ."

Misty rose from her seat on the couch, even turned in the opposite direction to go back upstairs, but suddenly felt the familiar tingling sensation that always accompanied Ash's touching her.

He'd grabbed her hand to hold her back.

"Wait, Myst. . . I mean. . . About _holding my head above water_. . . Great comparison by the way. . . I was just. . . Maybe you're right about that."

"I'm. . . What are you talking about now?"

"It's just, and I usually wouldn't say anything because nobody else bothered to ask, but you did so I thought maybe this counted towards your offer but I don't wanna go too far or maybe even scare you and it's just. . ."

"_Ash_, stop rambling and just say it."

_And let go of my hand before my heart goes out_.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning." he finally blurted in one short breath. He stopped to inhale afterwards, as if he could barely breathe, hardly looking at her, but he wouldn't dare look completely away. "And yeah, there are _those times _that have something to do with it but it's more than that. The other things we never talk about, the losses, missing home, my mom, missing _you_, letting go when others would hold onto it even tighter. . . We never mention that either. . . Could we talk about that stuff too?"

Finally his grip on her wrist loosened and relieved itself. The tingling slowly faded from just beneath the surface and she gulped back the fluttering sensation that had overtaken it at the mention of Ash missing her. Of course he had, of course he would. They were best friends, after all, weren't they? But they'd never really discussed _that _either.

"Ash, I don't travel with you anymore." she started rather sharply, and he gave a slight flinch but remained silent long enough to hear her out. "You have people closer to you now compared to when we _did _travel together. Even if you couldn't necessarily count on May or Max, there's Brock and he's been your friend almost as long as I have. He's a good ear to have available when you have something you really need someone to hear. . . And you could always call your mom too! She looks forward to every time you two talk and she's so sympathetic because you're her son. She loves you. . . But. . .

"But the fact that you would call on me, ask me to do this for you. . . Thank you, Ash. I was a little scared that you didn't want me around anymore, that you couldn't think of a reason to include me in your life, that you had enough people around after all and didn't need me."

"It's not like that!" Ash started but she interrupted him with a slight grin.

"No, I know that now. I guess we just needed to say it out loud. It was just a tiny thing we needed to add to the list." she noted. He still looked slightly confused but didn't speak of it for now. "And another thing, Mr. Pokemon Master, perhaps you haven't realized it yet even though we've known each other for over five years now but my _specialty _happens to be water."

Ash sat there and stared for a second before finally saying it, "I don't get it."

Misty sighed and explained further.

"I mean, I'm a water-type trainer, I live in a gym with a giant pool, I pride myself on my swimming abilities! So the next time you feel like you're drowning, just remember. . . that you'll always have me to teach you how to swim. I can help you make it through anything."

". . . Oh." Ash finally said, apparently understanding. And then he was quiet again, maybe reflecting on everything they'd just said, everything he couldn't have been bothered to say until now. Afterwards he slowly leaned back on the couch before using the slight momentum to push back forward again, bouncing onto his legs and reaching his feet. He gave a loud yawn and stretched his arms as high into the air as they'd go.

"Man, I'm beat. It's time to go to bed, huh?"

Misty smiled though she wondered if he could see it. She must have sucked every last ounce of depth from Ash's consciousness for the day. He seemed to have made a full recovery from the state he'd been in when she'd first come down the stairs. The DVD player, which had ended and returned to the root menu nearly an hour ago, had shut itself off automatically since nobody had continued to be active with it. With that final detail dealt with, she started to shuffle around the back of the couch again and towards the staircase.

"You know, Ash, this could be good for us." she noted in a whisper as they got slowly closer to their beds.

"Mm hmm. . ."

"I mean, I could get used to this. Us, just talking. You telling me things that you find impossible to tell anyone else. . ."

"Mm hmm. . ."

"And then, you know, maybe _me _telling _you _things I can't tell anyone else. . ." she continued to say just loud enough for him to hear, feeling her cheeks ignite at the insinuation she'd just made.

"Mm hmm. . . Wait. . . What?" Ash stopped abruptly where he stood on the sixth stair and looked up at her, waiting for her to turn and face him.

"Yeah, Ash, this talking business. It's a two-way street, you know. If you're gonna talk to me about what goes on in your life then I should get to talk to you about what goes on in mine. It seems fair, doesn't it?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. . . But Misty, no offense but. . . what could you _possibly _need to talk about?"

"_What_?" she turned and asked sharply, stock-still on the eighth stair with her arms crossed.

"I mean, you sit at the gym all day. You battle trainers, sure, and I guess there are wins and losses but. . . other than that, it seems kinda boring. You just do the same thing every day, don't you?"

"What?" she claimed, biting her lip afterwards and hoping nobody had woken up due to her yelp. "You think my life is too boring to talk to you about? Just because I don't go and get myself into a stupid dangerous situation that could possibly kill me at least once per day? I'll have you know, Ash Ketchum, that my life is far from boring!" she stated in the fiercest whisper she could muster, wagging a finger madly under his nose.

He remained skeptical, the tell-tale expression clear on his face. And then he dug an even deeper grave.

"I don't think _girl stuff _counts, Myst." he started, not noticing the fire in her eyes, "And I definitely shouldn't be the person you wanna talk to about it."

"You know what, Ash?" She gave him a few moment's of silence to see if he'd clue in to her fury but he didn't. "You're. . . you're right. I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, what could I possibly have to say to you?"

"Definitely nothing important, right?" Ash asked, pleased that she'd come around.

"Right. Nothing important. I mean, it's not like I nearly lost the gym as soon as I got home or anything."

"Exactly! I mean, if something like that had happened, I could see why you. . . Wait. . ."

"And it's not like Team Rocket broke in and tried to steal any of my Pokemon, and especially not _on more than one occasion_."

"But. . . how. . . Team Rocket was stalking _me _in Hoenn though, so who. . . ?"

"And I definitely didn't nearly drown because my Gyarados went on a nasty rampage and couldn't control his anger while I was just trying to help him calm down."

"Wait, but how did. . ."

"And it's not like my sisters want to make me the permanent gym leader or anything, it's not like I basically had to run away to come see you, it's not like those three stooges from Viridian City followed me home and tried to force me to leave town, it's not like someone confessed their love to me. . . _Nothing _like _that_ has happened since I went home, that's for sure!" And she gave a fake sigh of relief.

Okay, so admittedly, the last one could have been labeled under the category of _girl stuff_, but Misty would be damned if she wasn't curious about Ash's reaction to that sort of thing. And she was delighted to see a furious twitch of his brow before he cleared his throat and responded to everything she'd just said.

"Okay so. . . maybe there are things. . . going on that I should know about. You got me there, Myst, I admit it. . . But who did that?" he asked furiously.

"Hm? Who did what?" Misty decided to use her best poker face and play innocent.

"Who would con - I mean, who would be crazy enough to have feelings for you?"

She would have been far angrier at his insult if she hadn't realized he was pouting and jealous. (Hah, imagine Ash pouting and jealous simply because she'd claimed she had received a confession of love!)

"Oh, I don't know, I can't recall _every _confession I hear from _every _love-struck guy who happens to find themselves head over heels for me." You know, forget the fact that it had only happened _once_. She was definitely gonna milk this for all it was worth! "I mean, being the most popular of the four sensational sisters, it's a tough job but. . . Maybe, some day, my life will be exciting enough to tell you about it."

"Yeah, but back to this - to _these _- guys. . ."

"Ash, c'mon, we're gonna wake everyone up. Some other time, maybe."

"But I don't think you should. . ."

"Ash, you don't need to worry about me dating any of them. I've already got one in mind. There will never be anyone else."

"Wha - _who is it_?"

"I _told _you, Ash, not now. Besides, wouldn't that be something related to _girl stuff_? Wouldn't it be _boring_? You couldn't _possibly _be interested in _that _now, could you? And you're definitely _not _someone I should talk to about it, _right_?" she quoted, watching him flinch with every bit of emphasis she added to the statement. "It's too late to talk anymore, and maybe a bit too early, we might wake everyone up, especially standing here on the stairs. Let's go to bed." she finished mysteriously.

"Wait, Myst, what do you mean too late and too early at the same time? How does that. . . Is it 'cause it's early in the morning but still like late at night? Is it 'cause it's three a.m.?" But she ignored him and started walking up the stairs again, refusing to let him catch on to her silent giggle fit.

"Awe, c'mon Misty, just tell me!" he practically whined, but continued to keep his voice down, before finally stalking her up the stairs again. "I'm _sorry_, okay? _Now _will you tell me?"

She finally stopped, and he was sure he'd won her over with that super, extremely, awfully, obviously heartfelt apology. And then she turned and smirked at him again before continuing on.

"Three hundred and eight-five."

"Darn it, Myst!"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Wow, this thing went totally off kilter by the end of it. But I liked the end so much that I didn't wanna get rid of it! I hope you guys like it too. It's a little flirty, don't ya think? Yeah, I definitely added some hints and bits of romance here. I'm in a fluffy mood so I couldn't help it.

Sorry for the late update. I was doing so well too! Three posts to this series in under two months, I felt like I was gonna be able to keep up! But I've been feeling so uninspired lately! Even after I fixed up my laptop and I thought I could just lounge anywhere and write anything I wanted. . . but nothing came until recently. I'm hoping to post another one of these by Halloween though. I mean, after this one, I've still got two or three that I've started working on, plus one more that I've planned a bit out in my head that I _could _start working on.

Gah! I hope nobody gets too annoyed by how the end of this one drags on. . . (Sorry, it's so good IMO that it's still distracting me! Lol.)

Three apologies from Ash in one night. . . Whew, Misty, maybe you guys _have_ matured!

Anyway, happy Labor Day to anyone who celebrates it or even cares.

I'm considering this update my special birthday present for me. My birthday is this coming Thursday, Sept. 8th. Presents are appreciated! Bwahaha! I'm gonna be so old! Twenty-three! Gah! That means I've been a fan of AaML for twelve years now! And I've been writing it for eleven! So old! ((**sob**))

Please review!

Oh, a quick note. I'm not sure if you all understood what Misty meant by too early and too late, she meant it was literally too late to talk much longer and emotionally too early to tell Ash her feelings for him.


	5. Have A Little Faith

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'. (Creative, I know. . . =P)

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, this is going to be a combination of two one-shot series I wanted to write about Ash and Misty. (Apparently one-shot series are the new thing, though I hope mine will be a tad more popular than some of the others I've seen out there recently.) Some of these fics are going to be about methods of communication between the two of them (basically a bunch of phone-call fics showing that they're still close, still best friends who are _trying _to remain as such) while the other part of these fics was going to be about miscellaneous moments in time (both friendly and romantic).

Please note that, as stated in the first one-shot I posted, these are all unrelated to one another and completely random. I'll try to include a setting underneath the one-shot title so that you have a relative idea of where or when this takes place. If I don't tell you where or when, then it's not a big deal whether you know or not.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**OnE-sHoT tItLe **- "Have a Little Faith"

**Time-frame **- begins at Viridian Forest (before reaching Pewter the first time) and ends at Indigo League.

. . . **e**v**o**l **n**a**h**t **t**n**a**t**r**o**p**m**i** e**r**o**m** e**r**a **s**d**n**o**b** e**m**o**s** e**s**u**a**c**e**b . . .

**Summary **- She really didn't owe him anything after what he'd done to her precious bike. . . but perhaps putting forth the smallest effort wasn't uncalled for.

**O**o**O**o**O**

When he'd first told her his dream, she'd laughed.

"I'm gonna be the greatest Pokemon Master ever!"

Honestly, it was quite hysterical. They were sitting around the campfire really late at night, only a few days after their disastrous first meeting, and she'd been making fun of him for his errors in battle earlier that day. There was something about pitting a bug against a bird but he'd taken the quip seriously and dared her to doubt him. With both fists clenched before him, he'd leapt from his seat, taken a deep breath, and yelled with all his might.

She'd only laughed at him harder, biting her lip to keep from spewing more insults. She really wouldn't have minded listing further faults of his that she'd discovered in the almost-three days they'd known each other, but if he was going to go on an endless tirade about how he'd wanted it all his life and how there was no doubt in his mind that it would happen, that his parents had told him he was destined for greatness (although he'd only mentioned his mother, something she would admit to being curious about). . .

Well, anyway, she'd be better off staying silent if her only other option was to suffer through _that_.

"The only good thing about him is that he actually seems to care about Pokemon, whether they're kind or cruel, or even if their not his. . ."

But there was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't stand a chance against all of the other trainers out there vying for the very same goal as him.

So she spent many a day scoffing as he battled against a samurai - pitting Metapod against Metapod - and then dared him to take on a rock-type gym leader with an electric, bug, and flying type Pokemon. She even pitied him some, offering him a few of her water-types (though she'd be lying if she told him there wouldn't be a price to pay later on). Somehow, though she wasn't there to see it and had to wonder if he'd cheated, he'd pulled it off and come out victorious.

After meeting Brock and becoming the official trio, they began their walk to Misty's hometown, Cerulean City. They had their ups and downs, their moments of hostility, especially as Misty kept trying to force them all to switch destinations and head for Vermilion instead. Ash wasn't having it, though, didn't fall for any of her stories or traps and eluded her. Awe man, if she couldn't stop him. . .

This was going to be _so _embarrassing.

Ash was introduced to her sisters, apparently the registered gym trainers of the fine metropolis of Cerulean. . . Though they didn't seem to fit the mold. At all.

After a few petty arguments pertaining to Misty's qualifications as a Cerulean Sensational Sister, followed by her desire to defend the privileges the Cascade Badge allowed victorious trainers pitted against her family, and yes, after Ash and Misty's first ever battle against each other and Team Rocket's intrusion, the redhead was mortified to discover that her sisters really had no qualms about simply handing the badge over without a real fight for it.

And, oh the horror, Ash could not have been more pleased.

Misty fought them on it a bit but she really couldn't stop them. They were the gym leaders, and she was the runaway sister. No matter how much she tried to push League morale on them, the three of them would do what they wanted. And Ash would hardly ever dare to listen to her, even if what she had to say was for his own good.

You know, not that she was worried about him or anything.

She didn't tell him or anyone else at first exactly how seriously grave she considered the situation. She bit her lip and held the words inside because some part of her felt guilty. Whether or not she and Ash were friends yet, she couldn't seem to justify saying to him that he stood no chance and should just give up on his pathetic dream. The title of Pokemon Master sat on the highest pedestal on the furthest shelf near the brightest, most blinding light. It reflected misleadingly on other glass surfaces, opportunities and chances that Ash could use to get closer. . . But his glass remained half-empty. And Ash, pint-sized and immature, could not find even a puddle to fill it the rest of the way.

His dream was completely out of his reach. At least that's what she believed.

Of course then, ego so inflamed that she wondered if he could even see straight, he'd faced up against another aspiring trainer named AJ, who'd beaten the snot out of him. (Admittedly, she fought with herself the whole time over who she should be rooting for.)

_Finally_, maybe Ash would see reason and would realize that there was more to the whole greatest-Pokemon-Master dream than he'd first thought. Maybe he'd realize that he needed to train hard and not depend just on luck, maybe he'd see that so many people wanted the same thing as him and if he just kept playing friends with Pokemon - as much as she admired him for being able to befriend even the wild ones - he'd never stand a chance against the others.

But no, _no_, apparently that was too much to hope for. Ash immediately assumed AJ had been cheating and went to investigate his training methods. Of course, he had won every match he'd been in since Pewter - forget the fact that maybe AJ just had more training experience under his belt or that he'd been working much harder to win.

Ash assumed victory came easy, whether it was luck or skill or _fate_, if anyone he'd battled had managed to beat him, it wasn't because he'd been the less experienced trainer or because he had been behaving egotistically. The loss was no fault of his.

And Misty knew, as she watched him stalk AJ from outside the tent where he'd been training his Pokemon, that Ash would never become a Pokemon Master; not the way he was now.

Well, that basically shot and killed all the self-control and guilt that Misty had been using to repress the words inside and this ignited her first _real _fight with Ash. No stupid little one-liners, no sarcasm, just pure dislike coated in honesty. As night fell, she ranted to the peeved Ash and thoroughly confused Brock (who couldn't understand where her argumentative nature had suddenly come from), and she didn't stop for almost an hour.

The two of them didn't speak to one another for two days, far longer than the amount of time it had taken Ash to listen to AJ's story and openly support him.

By the time Ash seemed to have slept off all the tension that had coiled around him and all the dislike he'd felt towards her for saying it was useless for him to even try and accomplish his dream when all he did was accept freebies when he should be doing everything with his own strength, Misty's guilt was back and it had settled in the pit of her heart and her stomach.

Neither one of them apologized, neither one believed that it was over or that the words had been stated in the heat of the moment. Misty didn't hide behind her fears anymore. Luckily Ash was too stubborn to simply walk away from her so she could technically prod and poke forever and all he'd do is push back. Ash didn't mind the fighting since he'd grown up defending himself against Gary. Gary, who'd blown away Brock _and _Misty's sisters in less than a week, then moved on to bigger game. Gary, who had flawlessly moved forward, closer to his dream, while Ash struggled and dealt with menial disturbances by idiots like Team Rocket on a very-nearly-daily basis.

So he'd accepted a badge from the Cerulean gym without actually winning a battle against one of the trainers there. It wasn't like he'd just sat back and waited to be presented with it, right? He'd fought his own kind of battle! And he totally would have beaten Misty had they had a chance to finish the match fair and square!

_Fair and square_.

Ash didn't necessarily agree with Misty's choice of words, and he definitely still believed that he'd somehow make his dream come true. . . but he had to admit. . . that he was a bit disappointed in himself when he'd finally got down to thinking on it.

He really couldn't stand falling behind. His rivalry with Gary was so strong that he could see past this one indiscretion. He would make up for it when he faced the next gym leader in Vermilion.

On the way, however, Ash fluctuated between proving her theory right or else, every once in awhile, making Misty rethink her position. In defeating Giselle at PokeTech to prove a point about how computers and statistics didn't mean anything in terms of strength gained during an actual Pokemon trainer's journey, she even considered that she might have been _completely _wrong about him. And then he'd gained Bulbasaur's trust, and then Charmander's, then Squirtle's, something that had made her heart flutter both with pride and jealousy at the same time. Part of her wished to be able to garner trust like that too, even if only once. . .

And then, all of her doubts, all of his internalized promises, it all culminated when their group reached Vermilion City. Swearing to himself that he would use his past experiences in battle to fight, would use his own ego only enough to boost his confidence in battle, he'd tried and pushed Pikachu with all his might and the two of them had come out as. . . failures.

Huh. . . And as Ash sat in the Vermilion Pokemon Center that night, as he watched over Pikachu during the electric mouse's recovery and tried to tune out the repetitive sound of the front doors to the Center opening and many a panicked trainers' voices as they explained to the local Nurse Joy about how their Pokemon had also been pounded ferociously into unconsciousness by Lt. Surge, he leaned back and considered possible strategies.

He was hell-bent on going it alone this time, mostly because he didn't want to give Misty the satisfaction of thinking she'd been right about him all along, but also because he felt like he had to prove something to himself. His victory over Brock had been a fluke, the fire hazard sprinklers of his gym going off and targeting Onix's main weakness, and of course there was the interrupted battle at Cerulean Gym, Misty's livid expression as he'd stared blankly at Daisy and her other sisters, who were casually handing him a badge and wishing him well on his journey. . .

But just because he didn't want to accept anymore freebies didn't mean that he couldn't accept some friendly advice. He hadn't considered it until Brock had entered Pikachu's room and handed him something to eat from the cafeteria, trying to fill the silence with the only optional conversation.

What could Ash do to prevent the same thing happening to Pikachu next time he faced Lt. Surge?

The two of them discussed it for awhile, late into the night, far after Misty had peeked inside and bid them goodnight, not daring to ask about why they were looking so serious, giving the still-unconscious Pikachu one last pat behind the ears in hope that he'd wake up soon. Indeed, they discussed it even _after _Pikachu had woken up, when Ash had finally decided to pose the question. Lt. Surge had told them that he was unbeatable because he'd evolved his Pikachu into Raichu as soon as possible, allowing for a major power boost over his un-evolved opponents. Did that mean that Pikachu should evolve too?

Ash would never do that without permission from his best buddy though. Whatever anyone else thought, he and Pikachu _were _friends and he wouldn't dare push to evolve him without consent. But Pikachu would probably do whatever Ash wanted. . . and Ash wasn't sure _what _he wanted. . . other than to win so that he could get closer to realizing his dream.

What path should he have chosen?

Brock contemplated with him, and by the time early morning approached, they'd all fallen asleep. Brock had snapped awake first, claiming that he had an idea and telling Ash to go wake up Misty while he prepared them a quick breakfast since they'd have to spend a good part of the morning training for his rematch.

Ash had no idea what was going on, prayed that whatever it was was safe within the realms of _his own strength_, but did as he was told.

Seven hours of hard labor later and Pikachu had mastered _agility_. One final check-up with Nurse Joy, a quick lunch shoveled down their throats, and it was time for Ash to face Lt. Surge once more.

And this time he _won_.

Luckily, Raichu didn't boast much better defense than his un-evolved counterpart, Pikachu. So Ash continuously pummeled his opponent with physical techniques too quick for Lt. Surge to counter, leaving the war veteran highly frustrated as well as slightly impressed. The strategy worked two ways as well, seeing as Pikachu was dealing quick damage but also remained too _quick _to _damage_.

Misty bit her tongue for most of the afternoon after that match. Part of her wanted to express glee at the thought that he'd finally succeeded in actually _winning _a sanctioned gym battle, but part of her was too proud to admit even that.

Luckily their adventures were rather fast-paced. For example, nearly as soon as the trio had exited the Vermilion gym, they received passes to board the SS Anne cruise ship. And with Pokemon training, battling, grooming advertisements everywhere. . . Well, there was just no chance of them turning it down.

After giant Pokemon machines, mutated Pokemon hell-bent on revenge, ghost-type Pokemon playing pranks on behalf of long-dead maiden spirits, shipwrecks, painful goodbyes, beauty contests, and many more perilous adventures, their group finally reached their destination.

**O**o**O**

If there was one thing Misty liked about Gary, it was that he was always capable of firing Ash up even while he tore him down. Forget the fact that the guy had an ego the size of the entire Northern hemisphere, when he accepted Ash's frustrated challenges for a Pokemon battle and then proceeded to kick his butt, she couldn't help but applaud on the inside. Despite anything Ash would think (and also why she'd never say so to him), their relationship was pretty convenient. A loss at the hands of Gary was always enough to push him to try harder. It was a power that not many people were capable of handling.

Unfortunately it wasn't Gary that had beaten Ash this time, she thought as she sat among Mrs. Ketchum, Brock, and the Professor after his loss at the Indigo Plateau. There was something about fighting Ritchie that had really torn him down, something about fighting a friend that caused him to brood and mope around. Of course, there was also the fact that he'd dropped out of Indigo Plateau's tournament after reaching the Top Sixteen, but still. . .

"Oh, my poor baby. He's taking it pretty hard, isn't he?" Mrs. Ketchum sympathized from beside her on the couch. Misty felt her eye twitch in frustration, gripping Togepi tighter to her and attempting to remain firmly planted in her seat.

"Well, it was Ash's first major League competition," Professor Oak noted solemnly, "so it can't be helped that he finds it harder to accept his loss at this stage of his career as a Pokemon trainer."

Misty noticed Brock's gaze shift towards the bedroom door, beyond which Ash lay miserable and resolute in his bed.

She _knew_ that it was hard for him, even if she didn't quite understand it because she'd never taken a League challenge herself. But. . .

There was really no excuse for him lazing about. If _she'd _lost at the Indigo Plateau, _she _would get out there and start training again as soon as possible so that she stood a better chance at success next time! Didn't Ash see that acting as if his whole, stupid world had crumbled because of one (admittedly pretty major) loss would only hinder his future?

"He'll get over it eventually. I mean, Ash isn't Ash unless he's out there, running around and shouting about his next badge, catching and training Pokemon, and dragging us with him." Brock added with a fond smile. "But I guess knowing that doesn't help our situation now, does it? If only there was a way to jumpstart him. Maybe if there was another League to peak his interest. . ."

"Unfortunately, no new Leagues will be starting for at least a couple months. There's a union-level vacation period enacted right after all tournaments take place so most of them do around the same time each year. There may be something starting up a few regions distance from here, but nothing Ash could register for and stand a real chance at today."

"Maybe I should make some lunch. Food's never failed to get his attention before. . ." Mrs. Ketchum said, but before she could get up, Misty beat her to the punch and leapt to her feet, sitting Togepi in her arms as though ushering her to remain where she was.

"I've got this," she told them all simply, and left them to stare and blink confusedly as she marched straight up to the door leading to the room the three kids were sharing and twisting the knob without even bothering to knock.

She slammed it shut again right away, drawing enough attention to cause Ash to flip around from where he lay, arms crossed stiffly and facing the wall.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, almost incredulously, as if she was the last one he expected.

And, _hey_, maybe she was. Truth be told, she hadn't expected herself to be the first one to approach him either.

There was something so very, _truly _infuriating about _this _Ash, as if he'd shrunk back into the annoyingly dimwitted, blind kid she'd first met when they started traveling together.

"I'm not gonna tip-toe around you just 'cause you don't want to accept that you didn't win your first official League tournament, Ash. In case you've forgotten, I sleep in this room too. I won't avoid taking a nap or packing my things just to make sure you have as much time as you want to _cry _about your failure."

For a split second, she was sure he'd retaliate. She'd pushed a few of his well-known buttons by choosing words like _failure _because the same words coming from Gary usually pressured him into giving up on a negative tude. Unfortunately, it wasn't working.

"Whatever, Misty, just don't bother me." And he swung back around to face the wall again, probably boring holes into the surface and trying as hard as he could to pretend she wasn't even there. She was fairly surprised he didn't take her bait.

The redhead collapsed onto the mattress of her twin-sized bunk and stared at the boy's back, waiting for him to give in and say something, even if it was to talk about how he deserved to win that last match he'd had or how it didn't make sense because he was _obviously _better than _everyone _else participating in the Indigo League. A few minutes later she sat up again and started tapping her fingers against her thighs and making clicking noises with her tongue, watching as Ash's shoulders flinched with every sound.

"I said not to bother me, Misty!" he nearly shouted at her, his body stretching as he made his statement, but he refused to face her.

"Hm? How am I bothering you, Ash? You're all the way across the room. I'm just sitting here, thinking of a song I have stuck in my head."

"Well get rid of it, it's annoying."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, and you don't have any right to tell me what to do."

"I thought you were going to pack?"

"Oh, you're right. I guess I should get on that since there's absolutely _no reason _for us to stay here since _someone _lost a very important match a few days ago." Again, Ash flinched with every word Misty was careful to pronounce, something she couldn't help but smirk at.

She flipped over on her stomach and removed her red shoulder bag from underneath the bed, checking and noting that all of her Pokeballs and hygiene supplies were already in it. All she really needed to grab was the magazine she'd bought the day before to pass the time and her change of clothes from the bedside table beside her.

She slowly pulled open the top drawer and removed the magazine, careful to crinkle the pages obnoxiously a little bit and laugh at a stale joke typed onto the cover. Then she slammed the door closed again, making it unnecessarily loud, and opened the second one to retrieve her clothes. At the same time she began humming to the same clucky beat she'd been making with her tongue a minute ago.

Finally Ash flipped over.

"You're _really _annoying, you know that?"

"So you've said plenty of times before. But you know what, Mr. Pokemon Master? You're as dense now as the day I met you." Misty replied bitingly, reaching her feet again and stuffing her clothes back in her bag.

"Oh, yeah, and _that's _definitely a new insult. If I'm so bad then why are you trying to hard to be in the same room as me?" he asked her with a smirk, sure she wouldn't have an answer.

"Because your mom and Brock and Professor Oak are worried about you but they're too scared to come in here themselves and make you get up!"

"Just them, huh? I guess I already knew it anyway. You don't care about anyone but yourself, right? You and your stupid bike! I may be pathetic because failing at the League upsets me, but you wasted a year of your life following a _dense _wanna-be PokeMaster around just because you wanted a replacement _bike_. I can't tell which is worse."

Misty hadn't expected it, hadn't dreamed of it, but there it was. Ash had finally said something that really upset her. All thoughts of pushing him forcibly out the bedroom door and _making _him interact with the world beyond flew straight out of her head.

"That bike was important! It was custom-made! And it was _mine_. Complain all you want about it, that doesn't change the fact that you destroyed it. And if you keep on disregarding the treatment of other people's belongings, one day it'll come back and bite you where it _really _hurts!" she exclaimed, stomping forward, livid with his responses.

All she'd been trying to do was help! She didn't deserve to get treated this way!

Ash glared back at her, wishing for the perfect reply to her last comment to just come to mind. Only, in all honesty, he _wasn't _as smart or witty as her so nothing came to him after all. Instead he twisted back around and crossed his arms again, facing the wall and hell-bent on ignoring her this time.

Stupid, _selfish_ Misty. He shoulda known she wouldn't have any kind words for him.

"Fine, Ash. You can mope here all you want. Your mom is perfectly fine with coddling her _little PokeMaster _and making you all your favorite foods and taking care of you in your _great time of peril_," Misty started. Ash couldn't help but think it sounded like a pretty solid plan to him. "But when she forces you to come home 'cause you're too young and immature to handle facing your failures and moving forward, don't come crying to me!"

"Like I'd ever put myself through that!" he yelled back at her, apparently having forgotten about the plan to ignore her. "And my mom won't take me home just 'cause of this! She knows it's my dream to be a Pokemon Master! Unlike you, she just knows how to treat me when I'm upset about my loss! She'll give me time and she'll do what she can to make me feel better!"

"And how exactly is that fair to her?" Misty shrieked back, her voice almost loud enough to make the windows shatter. "Just because she's your mom doesn't mean you should depend on her for this! Didn't you pledge to do your best when you decided your dream was to be the greatest Master that ever was? If you can't come back from this then. . . then you don't even deserve your trainer's license!" she finished with her shoulders heaving, her cheeks blotching red in fury.

A knock immediately sounded at the door.

"Are you guys okay in there?" Brock's voice sounded muffled through the wood, "Mrs. Ketchum's getting a little worried; the Professor too."

"Just fine, Brock! We're perfectly okay!" Ash shouted back, and that seemed to quickly resolve it seeing as they didn't hear anything more from beyond the barrier. "I don't know what point you're trying to make, Misty, but you're not doing a good job. Maybe you should just leave." The subtext of his choice of words was not lost on her but she only bristled at the thought.

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Well I can tell you you're not doing any good here!"

"And neither are you! I'm not leaving you here to mope around, waiting for everyone else to comfort you! I won't do it because it makes no sense! At the very least I can give you something to consider!"

"What exactly are you talking about now, huh?"

"Where's Pikachu, Ash?"

He was silent for a moment, his face a mask she couldn't breech with her immature interpersonal skills.

"In fact, where are your other Pokemon?"

". . . At the PokeCenter."

She stared at him some more, hoping to make him as uncomfortable as she could. She was moderately delighted for some reason when he squirmed where he sat before her.

"It's been three days, Ash, three days since your battle with Ritchie. Pikachu and your other Pokemon will have been fully healed by now. You're telling me you're too upset to go retrieve your best friend, to check up on him and see for yourself just how well he is?" She scoffed before continuing, "Shame on you. I was right then; you don't even deserve that training license. In fact, I'm finding it impossible to tell who the selfish one here really is.

"All you do is bloat your ego with false stats, thinking you're so great, such a fantastic trainer because you faced some trials and won some silly little badges that granted you a reputation. You made it to your first League. So what? I thought you'd grown up a little bit at first, I thought you were smarter than this. I've known you for over a year now and I've never felt more embarrassed by it. A true test of skill for a Pokemon trainer is to see how they cope with failure and defeat. You didn't win. So what? Haven't you ever heard the phrase, '_try, try again'_? You're pitiful, Ash, as sore a loser as what I first thought, accepting hand-outs and thinking they'll boost your stats. I knew I shouldn't have let my sisters hand you that badge. Maybe if we'd finished that battle I could have taught you something important."

"I still don't see what you want me to consider," he replied, clearly defiant towards the heaping amount of insults he'd just received.

"Consider _this_; while you're up here, whining about how you couldn't take championship place during your _first-ever _League, your Pokemon, your _friends_, are downstairs worrying for you and wondering why you haven't come to see them. Perhaps they think they're no good to you now that they've failed you here. Remember, Ash. You didn't fight your way here alone. If you're any sort of real trainer, you'll get your butt in gear and realize what you need to do. You'll go see Pikachu and the others and apologize and reassure them that they tried their best and that you're _proud_ of them," she told him all in one breath, wagging a finger so close to his face that his eyes were crossed as he watched it move to and fro.

Then she stopped short and placed her arms at her sides, heaving a sigh before turning to grab her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. She stared at him for another couple of minutes, sizing him up, wondering if she should continue tearing him down or if she'd maybe, finally gotten through to him.

The fire in his eyes told her she probably had so she bit her lip before speaking again in a softer, far more accepting tone of voice.

"That's all I really wanted to say. Well, that and I just wanted you to know that you impressed me out there, you know, before all of _this_. You worked real hard and you deserve that title you earned." She tapered off for a moment before adding for his benefit, "One of the _Top Sixteen_, I mean."

"Impressed you. . . ?" Ash quoted in response, his face morphing with a lopsided grin, the first one he'd shown in nearly four days. His back stretched again as he sat straight up in bed, his heart thumping excitedly at the strangely positive turn of the argument. "Me? And this coming from the girl who only cares about herself?"

"Hmph!" Misty turned her nose up at him, refusing to acknowledge the tiny flip in her stomach that had taken place when she realized that she'd made him smile, made him feel a little bit better, despite the fact that she'd let loose every horrible thing she could possibly think of in his direction just a few minutes before. "Think whatever you want then! As long as you remember why I'm here with you after all this time!"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Ash muttered, flipping back onto the bed with his hands behind his head as he stared at the frame of the top half of his bunk, "your bike. Duh."

"Yeah, that. But also. . ." Her hand froze on the doorknob and she gulped back the anxiety she felt at admitting so to him. She really wasn't sure if it was the right time or place, or even if there was one at all. But it took a lot to get this far for her too so why not give it everything she could? Because she, unlike him, would not laze about as opportunities continued to pass her by.

". . . But also because I wanna see the day you make it happen. I believe you can make your dream come true."

She hurried outside the room before he really had a chance to blink and comprehend what she'd said, a quick shout of, "Quick, go see Pikachu ASAP", enough to distract him from pursuing her further.

She couldn't tell anyone when it'd happened, she couldn't really fathom it herself, but what she'd told him was the truth. A tiny kernel of faith had blossomed within her as she continued traveling with Ash Ketchum, an unlikely friend she'd made at a time she hadn't planned to have any. That glass she had seen as half-empty was now half-full, and slowly filling more and more as days passed.

And damn the glass anyway! Because they could always count on Squirtle or one of their other trusty water-types to send it overflowing with a single use of their _water gun_.

He would become a Pokemon Master one day, and she planned be an influential part of his life even then, when it happened, no matter how long it took.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Holy pistachio, it's done! Oh my goodness, oh goodness, I'm so sorry it took this long, guys! Ugh, I've just been busy with school (midterms _and _finals) plus I'm working over-time at work. . . And I swear, when I started writing this piece, it was going smoothly and I was sure I'd be alright and have it posted sooner! But the writer's block set in pretty badly when I realized that I had A and C, but no B. Confused? I meant, I had my beginning and end planned out, but no middle. I kept getting distracted by parts of the Indigo League season that I shouldn't have because they weren't important to get across the point of this piece.

Agh, but it's over now. My only problem is that I have no idea where it fits. I mean, obviously it takes place after the Indigo League, after Ritchie beats Ash and he's all sad and depressed about it. . . Misty to the rescue! The only problem is that Misty, er, "rescues" him in the anime too, so it's not like this is really behind the scenes. I just wanted to write her thoughts at the time, though. She certainly knows what buttons to press to get a rise out of him, which is possibly better than letting him lay around like he was, and we all _know_ she really wanted to help him get over it a little. . . but I liked diving into it more, her, why it was such a big step for her to be the one to chase after him and pull him outta his funk.

Also, a note, there were other parts of **OB** where I took direct quotes from the series and added to it. Unfortunately, that didn't happen here. Or rather, I should say that any direct quotes were unintentional. I didn't rewatch the episode before typing this or else read a detailed synopsis or even look up a few quotes. But I'm sure that some of the lines were pretty close to those in the episode anyway, mostly because the characters are pretty easy to read and guage a response from.

Well, tell me what you think anyway. . .

The next one might be _"The In-Between: part two"_, or else the little comparison piece I wanted to do on **Naval Maneuvers** and **Misty Meets Her Match** episodes! Or else one of the few others I have, since I already started typing those up! Anyway, I hope you're looking forward to it!


	6. Reunions: part one

**Disclaimer **- I don't own nuthin'.

**Author **- Chibi/Warlordess

**Notes** - Wow, not only have I not updated this series in for-ev-er but I haven't posted a new fic in over a year! That's absolutely ridiculous considering I work only one job now and therefore have at least a little more time to spend on my hobbies. Well, uh. . . let's just pretend we didn't hear that part, shall we?

Anyway, I wrote myself into a hole on another one-shot I wanted to post in this series so I decided to put it on hold since it was annoying me and start working on another one instead. Hopefully the same thing won't happen again this time around. . . One can hope anyway!

Uh, please enjoy!

**O**o**O**

**oNe-ShOt TiTlE **- "Reunions"

**Location** - Pallet Town, succeeding the Unova League finale.

. . . Basceue smoE Bodns arE Mroe iprtnomaT Tahn lvoE . . .

**Summary **- Sometimes, to find out something has been missing, you need a few friends to point you in the right direction.

**O**o**O**o**O**

Ash had only recently noticed that it was a _thing_, something his mom would do for him no matter how his final battle in the championships went. Which was quite the shame, since she'd been doing it since he was eleven years old.

Given, the first year had been rather glamorous in comparison to every one since then but now Ash knew that he could look forward to the small gathering of his friends and family everytime he returned home after a particular League. It wasn't really a _party_ per se. . . more a comfort in the aftermath of his latest great challenge.

"Hey, Pikachu, look! We're almost there!"

"Pika cha!" the electric mouse crooned from his shoulder.

A stream of familiar faces floated to the surface of his consciousness almost too expectantly as he breathed in deeply and opened the Ketchum home's front door leading into the kitchen. So it was hardly a surprise when the first face he saw upon walking inside his childhood home was not his mothers.

"Brock! Hey, man, what's up?" the raven-haired trainer asked, throwing up a hand and waiting for his old friend to high five him.

Brock did, a respective chuckle to himself at Ash's accepting tone of voice.

"Nothin' much. . . Anything new with you? Besides coming in second of the Kanto region participants at the Unova League Summit?" he added for good measure, knowing he wouldn't be able to escape his friend's ego no matter what he tried and deciding to embrace it instead.

"Awe, well, you know. . ." the raven-haired trainer responded with a guffaw, feeling his self-confidence prickle up.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he was waiting for a particular person to interrupt the pat on the back he was giving himself but, instead, what came was someone else entirely. Almost in response, he felt a faint tugging from his subconscious.

"And how has Pikachu been, huh?" Brock asked as he scratched under the content rodent's chin.

"Ash! Wow, you must have made pretty good time if you're already home!" Dawn cheered as she ran towards the two young men, throwing up a hand at the last moment. Ash accepted it as he had Brock's, Dawn's smile widening even further. "Hi Pikachu! I'm so happy to see you too!"

"Dawn, wow, haha. . . I didn't think you'd come. This is your first time at my house, isn't it?"

Dawn stepped back, arms dropping at both of her sides, and letting Pikachu leap up onto her own shoulder before responding.

"Yeah, but when Brock called to invite me and I thought about how long it's been since we last saw or talked to each other, I told him I wouldn't think of missing it," she finished with a giggle and rubbing the electric mouse on the head. "Plus May was coming too and I wanted to take the opportunity to battle her again while I had the chance. I've gotten a lot stronger since the last time we met in Undella Town!"

"Undella Town?" Brock asked as he walked up, taking a drink from the glass he was suddenly holding.

"Oh, yeah, Dawn happened to be visiting Unova while I was traveling with Cilan and Iris. We all ended up meeting Cynthia again."

Brock's grip on his glass of juice immediately went slack and Ash leapt to catch it before it fell to the ground and stained his mom's carpet. At the same time, the Pokemon doctor-to-be began to foam at the mouth in memory of the gorgeous elite trainer he too had met during his travels with Ash through Sinnoh.

"Speaking of Cilan and Iris, how come they didn't come with you?" Dawn asked with a furrowed brow.

"Oh, uh," Ash replied as he righted himself once more and carefully placed the drink he'd saved on the coffee table, "they both wanted to return home to see how their families were doing. Cilan's brothers run the Striaton City Gym and Iris is from the Dragon Village. She said she was due to report to the Elder on how much she'd improved since leaving home."

"That's a shame," the Sinnoh native pouted with puffed cheeks as Pikachu leapt off of her shoulder and ran around the couch, "I was looking forward to seeing them again. . ."

No sooner than Ash had opened his mouth to say something in return did there come an emphatic wail from behind them. All three young trainers turned to see May and Mrs. Ketchum on the stairs, the older of the two unable to help herself from rushing around the young coordinator, who caught Ash's Pokemon in her arms, and throwing herself at her son.

"Oh, honey, you're back already?" the woman rambled mid-swoon as she held the raven-haired trainer tighter to her with an iron-clad grip she was most unfortunately well-known for. "It's so soon! I was sure it would take you at least another hour and I haven't even started preparing dinner for everyone!"

"Hey, Ash, how's it going?" May asked with a cheery smile, having finally come down the stairs and caught up with everyone herself.

Ash mumbled something along the lines of, "c-n't br-the," and began to struggle halfheartedly even as his stomach grumbled rather loudly. It was enough for his mom to release him though, her arms up above her head almost dramatically as she flushed with a proud and loving smile at her son's safe return home.

"I guess I should start cooking, shouldn't I?" she asked nobody in particular before practically dancing from the room and heading through the archway that led into the kitchen.

Ash gasped for air and, once he'd finished coughing, grabbed Brock's drink to quench his sudden thirst. Then he slammed the glass back down on the table again, sighing in relief.

"Huh," May said absently, walking right by him, "Good to know."

"What?" he asked, realizing he must have missed something, but was ignored and Pikachu leapt away from May and landed on the couch, tilting his head to the side at his trainer's confused expression.

"Dawn!" the auburn-haired coordinator squealed instead, throwing her arms out, "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"You too, May!" Dawn replied with equal enthusiasm and the two girls hugged each other just like old friends. After they'd released one another, "So what have you been up to? Anything new? How was Johto? Where did you go after?" she begged all in one breath.

"Woah, woah; slow down!" May giggled, raising her arms and waving the Sinnoh native down. "It's been busy. I finished in fourth place in Johto and then went home for awhile. My brother recently got his training license, you know?" she told her friend and the two girls sat down on one of the couches before continuing their discussion, "So after that, I actually got a call from Professor Oak."

"Professor Oak called you at home in Hoenn?" Ash asked quizzically, he and Brock joining them. "What was that all about?"

"He said he'd recently been discussing things between Professors Ivy and Birch and that the three of them were working together to build up fame for Pokemon contests in the Orange Islands. He was calling to line me up as an experienced member of the field. . . among others," May finished mysteriously. "They had already been chatting informally with Orange League representatives about expanding but needed to prove that the profession would be fruitful and entertaining so they sent me and a few others to show them the ropes and regulations."

"Pikachu!" the electric mouse said by means of congratulations, then he sat down on the corner of the couch to find a good place to nap in the meantime.

"And by others, you mean. . . ?" Dawn asked with a strange twinkle in her eye that neither Brock nor Ash understood. To their surprise, May flushed a bit and stuttered her response almost as low as a whisper.

". . . Yeah, him too."

"Him?" Ash wondered aloud with furrowed brows, "Who's him?"

"Well, _you_ should know!" Dawn rounded on him unabashedly, "After all, you guys traveled with May for over two years!" But apparently Ash was not as perceptive as she'd hoped he'd be, which. . . admittedly, she should have known would be the case.

"Are you guys talking about Drew?" Brock asked after using the previous few minutes to think about the possibilities to himself. The question was enough to cause May to bristle in shock but she didn't say anything and he knew he was right.

"Huh?" Ash yelped, as confused as ever, "What about Drew?" he went on to yelp, glancing anxiously between his three friends.

"Honestly, if you haven't figured it out then it's really not worth talking about now." May and Dawn admonished him in unison, before the Sinnoh coordinator turned back to her original partner in conversation and said, "We'll pick this up a bit later tonight before bed, okay, May? Nothing gets me more excited than a little bit of girl-talk!"

The next hour or so was spent in amiable company, so much so that Ash hardly felt that strange tugging concern him. There was still something missing but it was hardly noticeable, especially after Tracey and Professor Oak stopped by to see him as well, though they weren't able to stay long. And once Mrs. Ketchum started serving ou'dourves and more drinks and after she'd asked Brock to help her finish cooking, the excitement started to simmer down.

May and Dawn were showing each other the newest tricks they'd taught their Pokemon. Dawn had come up with this really flashy routine with Piplup, who had learned to balance the bubbles he expelled on his own flesh without popping them and was then able to flip up into the air, using the wind to combine the little bubbles into one big one, which he would then pop before landing gracefully on the ground.

"I'm still trying to see if he can learn to freeze it before he pops it though," Dawn admitted bashfully, "Wouldn't the shattered ice look great in the sun?" she asked May.

"Oh, you're right! Having a water-type Pokemon for competitions would be so great! Unfortunately Squirtle still has some stage fright issues to work out," the auburn-haired girl claimed with a sigh, but then she smiled, "It's okay though! We're dealing with it so hopefully something will give soon!"

"Well, if you need any help, maybe Piplup and I can help you two train up!" Dawn squealed.

Ash sighed from just inside the house, able to see the two of them jumping up and down in their excitement. He couldn't understand why girls were so. . . perky about such silly things. Why couldn't they just be less loud about it? Though he supposed if Misty were there at the time, she'd want to be a part of the conversation too. Especially if it was about water Pokemon. . .

And he felt that strange pinch-tug feeling he'd felt a few more times throughout the day again. He blinked, clenching a fist in mild worry. Was that what it was about? He had no more time to dwell on it seeing as Brock walked up to him just then with great news (for his stomach anyway).

"Hey bud, your mom says the food will be ready in just about half-an-hour. What do ya wanna do until then?"

"I don't know; whatever, I guess."

"We could have a battle out back?"

"Nah," Ash half-groaned as he eased back into a stretch before loosening up again, "I'm too wiped to deal with kicking your butt right now."

"Oh, really?" Brock replied with a quirk of his brow and a smirk on his face.

"Ash, are you actually turning down the chance to battle or am I just hallucinating?" May asked, her mouth agape and eyes wide as she and Dawn re-entered the house again through the patio door. She poked at him as she sat down on his left and was willing to continue teasing him to keep everyone's boredom at bay but Dawn had a better idea.

"I know! How about we look through some of these?" And, as she posed the idea, she picked up an old photo album (the first of many) that was sitting in the bookcase right beside the door.

The group whiled away the following few minutes by flipping through pages and cracking jokes at the ten year old Ash posing awkwardly back at them from the pictures. The real hilarity ensued when they noticed that there was a shot of him every three pages or so where he was holding open his blue vest to unveil his badges, which increased by one each time.

"Haha, Ash, you look terrible!" May laughed openly in ridicule, "I can't believe Misty and Brock let you walk around with that stupid look on your face, like you owned the world or something!"

"We didn't _let _him; not that it slowed him down any," Brock noted soundly from behind the couch where he was standing to get a good view of the book.

"But this one is really good!" Dawn said in awe after she'd turned to the next page.

It was a photo of that night at the Maiden's Peak festival. Ash and Misty were in their kimono, and perfectly balanced in mid-sway to whatever music had been playing on the drums. Ash blinked away the feeling of that strange pinching once more, shaking his head and giving the faintest laugh as he explained it away.

"Oh, that's. . ." Brock started as he remembered.

"That one? Brock said he had to take a picture of that since he needed photographic proof that Misty and I could get along together for more than ten minutes!" Though little had the former gym leader known that almost as soon as the light flashed, Ash would stumble and accidentally step on Misty's foot, which would lead her to turn and call him an idiot for ruining the moment.

All in all, it had been a pretty good night.

"Wow, were things really that bad between the two of you?" May asked softly, as if she never would have expected such a thing. And she probably hadn't. By the time she'd met Misty in Hoenn, the redhead and Ash had been good friends for a fair few years and got along relatively well.

"Bad?" the raven-haired trainer repeated almost blankly. "I never thought things were bad between us. . . That was just how we normally were. I mean. . ." But the words didn't come and he looked almost helplessly at the book again until the group of four heard footsteps and realized that Mrs. Ketchum had joined them. "Oh, hey mom! That reminds me, did you remember to invite Misty this time around?" he asked her before cramming his lips tightly together as if the curiosity had gotten the better of his senses.

"Yes, honey, of course. She told me originally that she'd be here without a doubt. . . but then she called yesterday to say she couldn't make it and that something had come up," his mom told him with a hand placed against one of her cheeks. "I hope she's alright though. She sounded a bit hoarse on the phone."

Ash apparently hadn't heard the last part of the woman's testimony. A strange white fire bristled inside him at the very thought. Something had come up. _Something had come up? _Now that the two of them weren't traveling together and he regularly spend vast amounts of time in other regions around the world, he thought it'd be a pretty big deal for his best friend to take advantage of the few times they _could _see each other!

"That's too bad," Brock said in his place, "Well, maybe she'll catch up with us some other time. . ."

"Geez, Ash!" Dawn said with a guffaw and it shook him out if his internal strife. He had thought that maybe the girl was angry at him for not showing more compassion at the fact that Misty couldn't come see him, maybe show some concern in case something really was wrong, but instead he realized that, while he had been asking his mom about Misty, his two other former female companions had pulled out another photo album, left the previous one on the coffee table, and had flipped all the way through to the end of the new one.

"I know, right? It's like he doesn't have a care in the world!" May pointed out exasperatedly.

"Hey, wasn't that the outfit you wore to Hoenn?" Brock inquired as he leaned in for a closer examination.

"Hm, that. . ." Mrs. Ketchum craned her neck over to see as well before smiling fondly, "Oh, that would have been the day he left for Hoenn! He was so excited to go but I told him he couldn't leave until I got at least one picture!"

"You're right, though, May, he really doesn't look like someone who just returned home after losing out at the Silver Conference," Brock continued, and his snarky tone caused Ash to twist around and glare at him. "What?" the future Pokemon doctor feigned innocence.

"Yes, you would think he was in a hurry to escape his unconditionally loving mother," Mrs. Ketchum pretended to weep before wiping her eyes and going on, "You would never guess that he'd come home in tears two days before that because his friends told him they were leaving to return to their own homes."

Everyone paused and silence reigned throughout the entire house for approximately two whole minutes until some faint snorting was heard and everyone besides the raven-haired trainer collapsed in a fit of merciless laughter.

"Really, Ash?" Brock asked, a palm to his head as if to hide how funny he found this news. "I can't believe that! What, were you holding in the tears until Misty and I walked just far enough out of earshot?"

"It's so funny that it's terrible! It's. . . it's. . ." but May faltered and her expression calmed the more she thought of it, "Hey! You never cried when we separated!"

Dawn fell silent as she considered this fact as well.

"That goes for me too!" she exclaimed, pointing almost accusingly at him. "When you told me you were heading back home and I decided to go to Hoenn, you were all smiles!"

With the two girls glaring daggers at him, Ash turned to Brock again, only this time begging with his eyes for assistance.

"Come to think of it," the Pewter City native contemplated, gripping his chin in thought, "I left Ash once before Johto too, when we were in the Orange Islands." He left the statement at that is if to add to the dramatic effect.

"And?" May and Dawn wailed in unison while Ash shook his head rapidly, mouthing the word, "no," but it did no good.

"He shook my hand and wished me luck and said he hoped that we'd meet again someday."

"But, I, uh. . ." Ash attempted to defend himself to no avail, if only because of the next question to come his way.

"Well, what was different about that one time?" Dawn asked abrasively, though she was honestly just as curious.

"Maybe it was because he said goodbye to more than one person. . . You know, additional emotional build-up since it was all at once," May thought out loud.

"That doesn't really make sense though, does it? He said goodbye to all three of us after finishing up the League in Hoenn, if we're counting your brother too. Plus, as he mentioned to Dawn and I earlier today, he came home without Cilan or Iris either," Brock excused away the only idea that had come to them. "And he didn't seem all that beat up about it."

They were interrupted at this point by two things. Pikachu tossed around in the midst of waking from his nap, taking in his trainer's somber and puzzled expression, and a timer buzzed from the kitchen.

"Ah, that would be the food finishing up! I should go turn everything off before it all gets burned!" Mrs. Ketchum said to the group as she turned on her heel and dashed back into the other room.

Ash felt any amount of contentment that had previously embraced him vanish in an instant. His mom had been his last hope to keep his friends from bombarding him with their questions and claims and now she'd left him high and dry.

"Was there anything else that made the situation more vulnerable?" May asked next.

"Hey, it wasn't 'cause of Misty, was it?"

"Pikachupi?" the electric Pokemon asked almost sleepily as he crawled on Dawn's lap and relaxed once more. The sound of an old friend's name was beginning to rouse him though.

Dawn's almost naive question caused a rather distinct shift in everyone's demeanors. Brock's eyes widened just a bit and a small, knowing smile turned the corners of his mouth. May's eyes began to glimmer with a romantic light. And Ash. . . Ash jumped almost to the ceiling and then, upon regaining a comfortable sense of posture, did what he did best.

He denied everything.

"C'mon guys, be serious! I mean, it was a pretty big day, yeah, but you don't think I'd cry over something stupid like Misty going back home? Sure, we'd been traveling together for a good three - almost four - years but May has been with me just as long, and Brock even longer, though maybe not all at once," he sighed in relief as his friends seemed to take to heart what he was saying and decided he could afford to continue just a bit more in order to sweep the entire mess under the metaphorical rug. "I'm sure my mom was just over-reacting. I mean, I got attacked by Team Rocket that day too. . ."

"Pit trap?" Brock asked immediately.

"Pit trap," Ash affirmed with a nod, "Anyway, there was dust in my eyes and it made them itch a lot. That's probably all it was."

May and Dawn giggled to each other for thinking anything else, though their whispered conversation at dinner over the course of the next hour made the raven-haired trainer wonder if they still had their own theories about what had caused his sentimental reaction that day a couple of years ago.

He half-heartedly took a bite of what was on his plate before continuing to nudge the rest of it around.

Gee, he had forgotten to mention that the Team Rocket incident had taken place _after_ he'd returned home that time, hadn't he? Oh well.

He shrugged and tried to eat a bit more or else he'd never convince his mom that he was just too busy thinking. . . Though he probably would have had more trouble trying to convince Misty that such a thing was possible.

Smiling, he shoved the rest of the food that had been on his plate into his mouth in three heaping bites and asked for seconds, which of course Mrs. Ketchum allowed. Anything for her darling son; anything at all.

Meanwhile, Ash went back to his internal debate.

Of course he'd never thought about such a silly, distant thing either. Misty had been one of the first few people he'd met on his journey and, despite the initial hostility between them, eventually they'd learned to accept one another, sometimes to confide in one another, and even more, to depend on one another. It had taken not-quite-four invaluable years of his life before he'd realized just how much of a constant she was to him. Always in the background, in his perapheral vision, supporting him with little things that never seemed to accumulate, to add up to anything substantial.

At least, not until the day she'd left.

Suddenly she was gone, returned home to to her Pokemon gym in place of her sisters and he thought the only thing left for him to do (especially once Nurse Joy had returned the girl's bike) was to wish her luck as she embarked on her next challenge; that of becoming the new Cerulean Gym leader. And he'd been rather unable to contain his frustration and disappointment when, true to her character, all Misty had done in response to his well-wishing was get angry.

There came another pinch but Ash ignored it. Now he was getting irritated again, thinking about such a stupid old thing. Sure, he and Misty had patched things up back then and, when they'd met once more in Hoenn for that fake Togepi Festival, all had been forgotten. But he couldn't help the thought, the hindrance, that was her unending ability to get under his skin.

And he still couldn't understand why it was so hard to say goodbye that one time. He could have ignored the gravity of that moment for the rest of his life if not for his other friends reflecting on it in his place. It wasn't as if he'd never let anybody go before, it wasn't as if he'd never been left behind by anyone else. It wasn't as if she were any different than his other friends.

His spine straightened and eyes snapped open and he woke up in his bed, hardly realizing the amount of time that had gone by. It was just past midnight and he'd been half asleep until he'd come to in a state of dawning comprehension.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked him as he came to as well at his trainer's side.

"Uh," a gulp and a heaving sigh, "Y - yeah, buddy, I'm fine. . ."

Oh.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes **- Okay, so this was totally supposed to be a one-shot generally about the (as the title clearly depicts) reunions that take place in Pallet Town between seasons. They've come to in all shapes in sizes but anyone who's watched the series since the first season has seen some of these things. What I realized though, was that since Misty hasn't appeared since after Hoenn and hasn't been mentioned since the lure, I wanted to find an excuse as to why that was.

I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out where in the series I wanted this to take place. I really wanted to do after Unova (though I haven't watched even two minutes of one BW episode and have no idea how Iris and Cilan behave) and then I wanted to backtrack and have this take place after Sinnoh since it was more familiar (though only just) and because it would bridge the gap in Misty's disappearance from the anime sooner than writing something that takes place further down the Pokemon timeline. . . But in the end, I went with Unova after all. I don't remember why. But there it is. Hopefully it won't ruin whatever it is I plan on doing next.

Another thing you guys should take note of is the fact that this is one of those chapters of **Our Best **that is a two parter. Since I was inspired enough to whip this up almost in one go, I may also be able to crunch the next chapter out without switching to any other one-shot affiliated with this series. Unfortunately, I'm also moving at the end of the month and may not have any time after this to work on anything at all.

But I'm not dead! Isn't that exciting?

Okay, gotta fly! No, wait, wait, I don't know how to do that! Okay. . . gotta run! Ugh, but no, I don't like to run. . . Gotta go back to watching Once Upon A Time on Netflix and then continue packing up my room like a good girl since it doesn't require much fast-past movement!

Yeah, that one's better.


	7. Learning Curve

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Whew, it's been awhile since I updated this series! I'd totally never planned to take a break from it but then I just got caught up in life and writer's block. Blech. I have a couple more ideas I want to add to this now and this is the first of them. I ask this at the end but I feel compelled to do the same here. I'm currently looking for an episode of Pokemon where Gary beats Ash in battle. I know it happens, or at least I _think_ it does. So, even though it's been a gazillion years since the first season, if anyone knows what episode (even roughly) the two of them meet up again and battle, please let me know! Thanks!

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**oNe-ShOt TiTlE **- "Learning Curve"

**Location **- Cerulean Gym, during the episode, "The Water Flowers of Cerulean City".

. . . teerts yaw-owt a si noitacinummoc esuaceb . . .

**Summary** - In the aftermath of Team Rocket's attack on the Cerulean Gym, Misty learns another one of Ash's many flaws and takes it upon herself to cure it.

**O**o**O**o**O**

Misty sighed as she took in the massive damage that had been done to the wall of the water gym's arena. It had been roughly an hour since Team Rocket had been blasted off by Pikachu's _thundershock_ and she, her sisters, and Ash had all decided to chip in with the clean-up. That being said, rather unfortunately, she and Ash were stuck working together in backing the giant vacuum Team Rocket had barreled through the wall with into the front yard area outside the gym while her sisters called both the authorities and the Pokemon League about the crime and the repairs they would need.

"You're doing it wrong!" she claimed coolly as Ash fumbled with the controls before the two of them and tried to set the machine in reverse.

"Oh, really, Misty? I suppose you would know since you probably use these kinds of things so regularly yourself!" he retorted in defiance, pulling a random lever and pushing a couple of buttons for good measure.

The redhead bristled but bit her tongue, knowing that he was right. She didn't know any more than he did about things like this but that didn't mean that he was any less wrong about how to operate it himself.

The hose outside began to flail uncontrollably despite having nothing inside its reservoir that it could spew out now that all of the arena water had been successfully placed back in the pool. And, as Ash pushed a third button, the hose went limp once more before there was a triple-clicking sound from the base where it was connected to the giant machine and it detached itself and fell to the ground.

"Hah, at least I got the hose off! That means we can give it back to that store owner since Team Rocket stole it from him!" He turned his head away from her and held his nose high in the air as his ego flared. "What can you do to help now that I've already done half the job myself?"

Misty told herself at first that it wasn't worth giving in to the temptation to show him up but such thoughts were lost after she noticed him double-checking his belongings - including the Balls on his belt and the badges inside his vest - and she was forced to endure the sight of the Cascade Badge he'd pinned their since her sisters had given it to him.

Her temper flared at the bitter reminder of his not-a-win in their Pokemon battle and she responded to it by shoving Ash out of the driver's seat before sitting down there herself.

"Hey!" the raven-haired trainer shouted, twisting around and glaring at her reproachfully.

"Pikapi pika pikachu?" the electric mouse at his side asked his trainer but received no response seeing as the boy was too busy glaring at his so-called friend.

She stuck her tongue out at him and pulled on the bottom of her eyelid with a, "nyeh!" sound before stretching back in the chair and taking in everything that sat before her. There was another lever to her right with key commands such as _D_ for _drive _and _P _for _park _and, amongst them, _R _for _reverse_. And to the left of those commands was an analog stick used to control the direction the machine traveled in as well a blank computer screen.

Misty scoffed at how easy a task it seemed to be to successfully do as her sisters had asked and pulled the lever down until it was locked onto the _R_. There was a rumbling sound and their entire surroundings began to tremble violently as the machine was turned on and the blank computer screen lit up, a camera apparently having turned on so that the driver would be able to reverse successfully since there were no rear-view mirrors.

As carefully as she could, she pulled back on the analog stick and felt the machine start to move, watching as a bit more of the gym wall crumbled to her left after accidentally jerking the controls in that direction. Ash laughed at her but she forced herself to ignore him, continuing to back straight out before twisting cautiously right and parking the giant super-vacuum outside on the gym grounds. She pushed the lever up until it was beside the _P_ again and felt the rumbling stop automatically before she twisted in her seat and sneered at the wannabe-Pokemon-Master before her.

"Hah!" she mocked back at him after he'd done the same to her earlier, leaping up and relishing her victory. "At least I know how to read the controls, and I drove us out of there, no sweat!"

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the wall you just crashed into!" he replied ignorantly.

"Hey, shut up! I would have liked to see you do any better with no experience!"

"Well maybe I will if you wanna drive this stupid thing back into the gym and give me a go at it! I bet I can get it back out here without even _touching_ the walls!"

"Oh, really?" she asked skeptically, crossing her arms, fury causing her cheeks to flush patches of red.

"Yeah, re-," but he was interrupted by his Pokemon as the electric mouse fell back from his hind legs and onto his butt, sighing at yet another disagreement between two of his favorite people ever.

"Oh, Pikachu, I'm sorry!" Misty exclaimed before Ash could get any chance, and she fell to her knees and sat with the Pokemon, picking him up into her soft embrace and holding him there. "Are you okay? I never even got to ask after we got rid of Team Rocket! Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked passionately.

"Pika, Pikachupi," he replied contentedly as he shook his head. Ash felt his chest tighten up at such an expression, half from the annoyance this his buddy had so easily turned traitor for the scrawny redhead and half from the concern he too had felt when he thought Team Rocket might get away and take his Pokemon with them.

The three of them left through the exit and hopped down the side of the mega-appliance, leaving it behind and walking back into the arena from the massive hole in the wall. As they did so, Pikachu hopped from Misty's arms onto Ash's shoulder and the youngest self-proclaimed sensational sister took in her surroundings.

Luckily, despite what had happened, the damage to her home was mostly contained. There was obviously rubble on the floor, but in between she only saw minor scuffs and scratches, and the pool itself was left completely intact.

"It doesn't look so bad," Ash said to himself, or maybe he was trying to say so for her benefit despite the animosity between them. She felt her insides cool down considerably at his attempt to reach out to her before responding.

"Yeah, I guess it could have been a lot worse. Team Rocket really don't concern themselves with delicacy, do they?" she asked by way of making a joke but it seemed lost on him so she went on. "If they'd gotten away with Seel or any of our other Pokemon, I'm not sure what I would have. . . well, anyway, thanks."

"What?" he replied with a furrowed brow, waiting for the punch line. But it didn't come.

"Yeah, I mean, you were the one who actively tried to stop them from taking the Pokemon. And," she faltered here as she considered (not for the first time since meeting him) that he really did seem to be a special kid. He truly cared about Pokemon in a way that few others did. Still, she refused to tell him so and instead felt a smile tugging at her lips.

"What? What is it?" he asked again.

"I was just thinking," and she couldn't refrain the giggle that managed to escape her, "I'm kind of shocked that you handled the situation so well. When Pikachu was dragged into the current and sucked up into the hose, I thought for sure you'd do something crazy like dive in after to save him."

"Well, yeah, if that were the only option, I probably would have. . ." He paused and glanced at his Pokemon appreciatively and Pikachu cooed his own name softly in reply. "It would have been a pretty bad idea to do that though since I can't swim."

The silence that followed this confession was rather stifling and Misty felt her breath die in her throat for some reason as she twisted on her heel and confronted the boy before her. He was staring at her blankly, maybe a bit curious as to why her eyes were so wide and she looked so suddenly furious, especially since things between them had recently seemed to take a turn for the neutral.

"You can't. . . I'm sorry, you can't _what_?" she asked incredulously, nearly hyperventilating as his words repeated themselves in her head.

"I can't swim," he told her once more with a casual shrug, "I mean, not _really_. I've never really been in the water, never had formal lessons, never really cared to learn how to."

"Ash!" she shouted and he flinched at her sharp tone, "Did I or did I not _fish you out of the water_ when we first met?" she implored, advancing on him with almost every word.

"Uh, yeah. . . ?"

"The river that runs from Pallet Town to Viridian has a strong current! It was probably carrying you all the way downstream! What would you have done if I hadn't been there to pull you back above the water?" she begged of him, eyes wide as Electrode.

"I don't know," he had the decency to admit, though it did nothing for her nerves, "I hadn't really thought about it. There wasn't much time to think anyway. The Spearow were gaining on us and Pikachu was already injured. It was a last resort to get away." And finally, under his breath, "It didn't even work that well. . ."

Misty stood still as stone before him, though her limbs were starting to shake worse with each passing second and he knew that she was going to blow her top. Surprisingly though, she simply turned and stomped out of the arena, hanging a sharp right and vanishing completely from his sight.

"Pika cha?" Pikachu mumbled, half-asleep as the raven-haired trainer continue to stand where he was, unsure of what to do now.

He had his Cascade Badge and, under any normal circumstances, that would be his queue to leave. . . But he couldn't just go without Misty, could he? Or _could _he?

Thinking about it, it was the perfect opportunity to leave her behind and escape the wrath that wrecking her bike had instilled in her. And he could easily claim it was her fault since she'd left him alone and given him the chance to come up with such a plan.

_But no_, a voice in the back of his mind insisted, _you did destroy her bike and it wouldn't be right to turn tail and run. And since when do you run from your problems? Besides, she isn't _so _bad. . ._ _sometimes_.

It was at this time that Misty chose to re-enter the arena, only she was wearing far less than when Ash had seen her a few minutes ago. Instead of her usual crop top and jean shorts, she was instead wearing a semi-familiar red bikini, strapless, with a skirt knotted at the base of her hips, traveling down a few inches of her thighs.

Ash blinked and shook his head to help ease the flushing on his cheeks and neck.

"What. . . what are you doing?" he asked her when he'd gained control of his thoughts.

"I'm teaching you how to swim. So c'mon, strip down to your boxers," she urged him on with a flippant wave of a hand, the other poised at her hip. She was trying her best not to look embarrassed by what she was asking him to do.

"Mwah!" Ash cried out as the blush was immediately renewed. Trying his hardest to ignore it anyway, he continued, "Why would I do that? Geez, Misty, I don't have time for swimming lessons! I don't even need them! I'm trying to be a Pokemon Master, not an Olympic athlete!"

"Pika," Pikachu started almost in a growl and then removed himself from the comfort of Ash's shoulder, leaping down to the ground and stepping back only to nudge Ash forward instead, "Pi pikachu Pikapi."

"Looks like Pikachu thinks it's a good idea too," Misty noted smugly, now with _both_ hands on her hips, clearly assuming she'd won the fight. But Ash still wasn't quite convinced and he certainly wouldn't be giving in without a struggle.

"B - but why would I need to learn how to swim? I mean, how often do you think I'm gonna need to use this kinda skill when I'm _walking_ everywhere?"

"Ash, we're not having this out right now. You _need_ to learn how to do this yourself. I'm not going to travel with someone that I have to save from drowning every time he falls into the water!"

The raven-haired trainer sputtered and thought for a moment about telling her that she needn't travel with him at all, hoping to get her out of his hair, but felt his stubborn streak peak out in place of that statement.

"I don't need you to save me!"

"So you'd rather have _Brock_ give you mouth-to-mouth in a worst case scenario?" the redhead asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wha. . . ? No!" he exclaimed in response, looking quite appalled at the very idea. She continued to stand there and stare at him, waiting for him to figure out the rest of what she'd meant, and then he finally cottoned on and retorted, "Not that I want _you _to give me mouth-to-mouth either!"

"Which is _why_ you need to learn how to swim on your own!"

"Argh. . . Alright! Fine!" And he indeed quickly removed his backpack and vest, tossing them to the ground with no regard (which was quite something since his badges were still pinned to the inside lining of aforementioned top) before unbuckling his belt and dropping it beside Pikachu for safe keeping. Next was the black tee-shirt usually worn underneath his vest and finally came the pants.

Forcing himself to ignore the Beedrill buzzing in his head and the Butterfree fluttering in his stomach, he wrenched the waistline of his jeans downward after undoing the button and zipper, kicking them off with his shoes and ripping his socks off as well.

"There! Happy?" he practically snarled out of embarrassment but was taken aback by her intent gaze on his boxers. Then he looked down and realized they were the ones his mom had picked out for him the day he'd left home with little Pikachu all over them.

"Cute," Misty said with a snarky grin, probably hoping to lord such embarrassing undergarments over his head for the next few weeks.

He told himself to ignore her and made to dive straight into the pool before Misty threw out an arm as he tried to pass her, catching him in the chest.

"Hold on a sec, Ash! First tell me, have you ever gone swimming before? At all? Have you been in any body of water outside of your bathtub and the river I found you in?" she asked him in innocent curiosity. It was best to gauge his level of experience before recklessly assuming anything at all.

"Well, sorta. I mean, I'd never really gone swimming as a kid, no, but when I was in the river before I met you. . ." his voice faltered as he lamented how the current had been pushing him further and further away from his hometown, how he'd been holding Pikachu so close and hoping that the poor Pokemon could hold his breath just a bit longer, how sheer panic had welled up in him at the sight of the Gyarados fast approaching from the direction he was traveling, clearly easing his way through the water no matter how much it tried to force the water snake Pokemon the other way.

He had swam then, hadn't he? Though it had been such an instinct to do whatever he could to get away from a new threat that he couldn't remember how he'd done it, especially now, weeks later. He just remembered kicking his legs furiously and hoping that, when he broke the surface of the water, there would be someone who could help him save Pikachu.

And then there'd been a vicious tug on his collar as he was yanked straight from the river, and he'd met Misty.

Huh; he'd never really thought about it before but, glancing at her, Misty didn't look quite like she'd be as strong as she was. He didn't say so aloud though, tucking the thought away and wondering if he'd ever reflect on it again, rather deciding to tell her what had happened before the two of them had met after all.

"Hn," she started as she wondered about his story, "so you're probably not afraid of the water then either."

"Of course not!" he replied before he could help himself, his pride burgeoning through any other emotion he'd been sporting at the time.

"Well, that's good then. It's usually not a one-day thing, training someone to swim. Most of the time, people learn over the course of a few months, depending on how frequently they get to practice. But I think we could get a lot accomplished with a couple of hours.

"Anyway, since you're not scared, the first thing you should learn how to do is float. Considering the only extended amount of time you've spent in the water was when you were letting the current toss you around, this is probably the best idea."

Then Misty walked past him and sat down at the edge of the pool, dropping in upright and turning to face him, holding onto the ledge and letting her torso down to her feet dangle out behind her in the water. Ash felt almost disappointed in her elementary way of entering the pool. Seeing as she'd come from a family of trained divers and swimmers, he thought she'd have a bit more flair to her.

Nevertheless, he did as she had, nudging himself forward from the ground and easing into the water before grasping the edge of the wall and twisting onto his belly. Then he waited for further instruction.

"We're in a pretty shallow area so go ahead, put your feet on the floor," she told him and after he did as encouraged, "So if you do start to feel like you can't hold yourself up anymore, keep in mind that there isn't far to go so you'll be safe no matter what."

He nodded but didn't speak quite yet.

"Now do what I did when I got in. Keep holding on like you're doing, but let your body drift into a horizontal position."

Clenching his eyes shut and waiting for something, or nothing, to happen, he felt his feet fly away from the floor and his torso lengthen out along the surface of the pool. It wasn't entirely stable but he managed to keep half of his body above the water without struggling too much.

"That's good," Misty told him to boost his confidence. His eyes shot open and he stared at her curiously. He didn't know the redhead was capable of complimenting him. Offhandedly, he wondered if she even remembered it was him that she was trying to teach. "Now let go of the wall and try and float on your back instead. I'll stand beside you in case you start to feel like you're sinking." And, true to her word, she also let go of the side of the pool and stood to his left with her arms held halfway out before her and, when he followed suit and tried to drift while facing the gym ceiling, she maneuvered her arms the rest of the way under him and gave him an extension of balance.

Ash felt his eyes slip easily closed and he actually forgot that she was assisting him, even when one of her arms accidentally bumped into his back as he felt himself dip under for a second. He went rigid though when he felt his legs fall completely below the surface of the water again, and his body recoiled itself in a state of panic.

He couldn't help it when he started flailing his arms and twisting himself in the water, trying to regain that sense of comfort he'd felt a few minutes ago.

"Whoa, calm down!" Misty told him, "Remember to put your feet on the ground if you don't think you can keep floating!"

Holding those words as close as possible, he did as she instructed and purposely flipped his body into a standing position, composure refilling him as he felt the granite firmly planted under his feet once more. Then he blinked and glanced around at his surroundings, realizing that he was now roughly eight feet away from the side of the pool he'd entered from.

"Pikapi!" his Pokemon squealed from the same ledge he was currently staring at.

"It's alright, Pikachu, I'm okay!" he responded in reassurance with a wave of his arm. Then, when his Pokemon's fears seemed abated and the electric mouse had decided to lie back down next to his trainers clothes, Ash turned back to Misty.

"I. . . that's never really happened before. I didn't know it would feel like that to lose your balance in the water."

Misty blinked at him before sighing and shaking her head.

"Ash, you're dense."

Of all things the raven-haired trainer had expected, he had not thought she'd bite back at him with an insult. Immediately, a scowl replaced his half-worried expression from before and he crossed his arms and turned his nose up at her.

"Oh, yeah? Well you're scrawny!" he told her, peeking one eye open to watch for her reply.

Surprisingly she looked unexpectedly confused and affronted. Then, apparently realizing what he must have assumed, she rapidly shook her head and punched him in the shoulder, knocking him out of his pose.

"No, Mr. Pokemon Master, I meant that you're _dense_, you know, like _physically_!" Seeing as this didn't seem to clear up anything for him, she decided she would have to elaborate. "Generally boys have more muscle than girls so they're naturally heavier. In the water, this can make a key difference in buoyancy and staying afloat and stuff."

"Oh," he responded simply, making a mental note of such information and shuffling it into the back of his mind, realizing also that she had been trying to appease his discomfort all along. Then he grasped the fact that he'd needlessly offended her and felt what may have been regret or guilt bubbling up in his stomach.

Before he could take back what he'd said, however, the redhead decided to force him back into the impromptu swimming lesson.

"You've actually been doing pretty well though," she said, avoiding the subject of his slight towards her before. "If you keep up your balance practice for a bit longer, we can try proper swimming postures and then maybe go towards the center of the pool where it's deepest."

The gym arena was built like the lower half of a hexagon, meaning that both ends of the pool where the trainers stood on their platforms were rather shallow, but the middle area was quite steep since it was where most of the Pokemon would battle.

Biting back any response at all (though he told himself it was _not _because he was worried he'd make another error in conversation), he returned to the position he'd been in before his body had betrayed him before, lying flat out on the water and waiting for Misty's arms to reappear behind his back to help hold him up. He refused to acknowledge the fact that it took them an extra few seconds to do so.

They continued with the lesson for another half-an-hour or so, more floating leading into underwater breathing exercises that would increase endurance and repose. It was after those that Misty decided to show him, somewhat melancholy, how to actually _swim_.

First she started with the _eggbeater kick_, which helped in keeping Ash in an upright position without standing on the pool floor. She made sure it was engraved in his head before moving on, since it would be the most helpful when they entered the pool center. Next was the _backstroke _and then the _flutter kick _which she used to lead to the introduction of the _crawl_.

"Okay!" the redhead said some time later, beaming impressively, "This is great, Ash. Now," she paused as she turned and dove like an expert, gracefully treading water until she was ten feet away from him before reappearing and _eggbeating_ from a slightly deeper area of the water, "see if you can swim over to me. Remember that you probably won't be able to keep your head above the water and touch the ground with your feet at the same time and, if you think you're starting to lose balance, remain calm and let your body keep you afloat. After that, just do as I am and use your legs to ensure your head remains above the water."

Obviously not for the first time that day, Ash followed her direction to a _tee_. It took him quite a bit longer to reach her than it had taken for her to swim the distance she had in the first place (though he begrudgingly admitted that, of course, she was far more experienced at this than him) but when he finally _did_ reach her, after he'd proceeded to stand upright with his arms before him and his legs propelling comfortably in the water, he realized just how much he'd accomplished.

Misty, however, didn't give him any time to pat himself on the back, repeating what she'd done before and diving under again before reappearing another ten or so feet away. He didn't need her to tell him, immediately following after her but, before he'd even gotten close, she was gone again, another fair few feet away. So he followed some more. And she ran. And he chased.

And then the two of them were somehow on the complete opposite side of the pool, both gasping for breath, though he more strenuously than she. Misty wiped her fringe from her eyes and hopped out of the pool as only an experienced swimmer could, twisting around and dangling her feet in the water as she wrung out her hair on the ground beside her.

Ash stumbled after her as well, again taking almost twice as much time to do so, before staring out at the vast eighty feet of water before him and taking it all in. He had swum through that? He had swum through that. He would have never been able to accomplish such a task (at least not without a bloodthirsty Pokemon chasing him) had Misty not pushed him into learning how to do so.

And though he wasn't sure if learning such a thing would really be all that much help, he couldn't contain the pride bristling in him for achieving such feats, nor could he help the gratitude he was feeling towards the redhead, though she was refusing to look at him even now. And he, unfortunately, knew why that was.

He was never very good at apologizing, and everything was always ten times harder with Misty involved. She never let him get away with anything, never gave him credit for anything, never. . . Well, the only _girl_ he'd really ever known was his mom and he hadn't thought that he'd meet someone so completely different from the one source of femininity he'd become accustomed to.

So, taking the highest road he could think of, he mustered up his courage and humility.

"You know, Misty. . . You're a pretty good teacher. Thanks for today," he told her and when she turned her gaze on him, finally _really _looked at him for the first time in a good hour or so, one brow quirked at his strange behavioral development.

"You're welcome, Ash. But in case you're wondering," she replied in a controlled tone, so deprived of emotion that Ash wasn't sure what to expect beyond the words she offered him. . . until she kicked up one of her legs and flung a wave of water at him, "that doesn't count as an apology for calling me _scrawny_ before!"

And she stuck out her tongue at him again, pulling on her eyelid as she had done to him earlier that very same day, before leaping back into the water and swimming away as fast as she could with a laugh at his disbelieving expression.

Pssht, as if she would let him off the hook so easily!

Rather than think to outsmart her by running around the ledge of the pool, Ash fell back into the water as well and followed after her. Their so-called practice dissolved into a splash fight so intense that they were hardly able to catch their breath until, finally, a voice shouting from the lobby distracted them.

"Hello?" the somewhat familiar tone called.

"Um, we're in the gym! First door on the right!" Misty replied as she left Ash to his own devices and turned to go greet what she could only assume was another challenger for the Cascade Badge. However, with the wall out of commission, of course her sisters had said that they would be declining any further challenges that day. . . which meant, of course, since they were nowhere to be found, it would be up to her to deliver the bad news.

She sighed. _Terrific_. When she'd told them that she wanted to be a part of running the gym too before leaving home, she hadn't meant it like _this_.

"Huh? Misty, why are you wearing that? Come to think of it, why are you even here?" the person asked, and she snapped to attention and realized it was Brock who was standing before her.

Somehow feeling uncomfortable, she half-covered herself and grabbed a towel she'd set on one of the chairs as she and Brock entered the arena. The future Pokemon breeder caught sight of Ash just as he was in the middle of putting his clothes back on and he blinked, warily gazing between his two friends in curiosity.

"Do I want to know what happened here?" he asked, also noting that there was a whomping twelve-by-fifteen foot hole on the other side of the pool. Let alone that both kids he had been traveling with were half-naked. . . though, in lieu of anything inappropriate, he was actually considering that they'd been trying to drown one another somehow.

Seriously; he wouldn't put it past 'em.

"Oh, that?" Ash asked, jerking his thumb at the aforementioned wall as if there had been no gap in conversation between the two of them. "Eh, it's being taken care of. Besides, it wasn't so bad until Misty got to it."

"What?" the redhead screeched in fury, "You're really going to blame _me_ for this, Mr. Pokemon Master? If Team Rocket wasn't so interested in your Pikachu, they wouldn't have followed you all the way to _my _gym!" she claimed, pointing a finger accusingly at him.

"Wait, _your_ gym?" Brock asked with a double take, "And Team Rocket was here?"

"Don't worry, Brock, it's not really _her_ gym," Ash retorted, making sure to use air-quotes to add insult to injury, "But who cares about that right now? Why are you blaming me when Team Rocket came for _all _of the Pokemon here! They took your Seel too!" he went on defensively.

"Hey, Seel isn't _my_ Pokemon!"

"Hah, I guess that's true! He belongs to your sisters, doesn't he? In fact," and he put on a fake-thoughtful expression before continuing, "All of the Pokemon they tried to take today belonged either to me or your sisters. . . Huh; doesn't that just mean that your Pokemon are too weak for them to even consider stealing?" he goaded.

"Why, you. . . ugh!" Refusing to let him win this round, she tried to think of something else to say to that. "My Pokemon are plenty strong! After all, they were able to take you on without much trouble!"

"Oh! Is _that _why I have this Cascade Badge?" Ash asked innocently as he opened up the flap of his vest and showed off his latest acquisition.

"Hey, you won your second badge!" Brock said, hoping he could somehow diffuse the argument, though all he did was add fuel to Misty's fire.

"He didn't win it! He didn't win anything today!"

"I don't need you trying to tell me what I did and didn't do! I earned this badge fair and square!" he shouted back at her, "And if Pikachu had fought in our battle, you wouldn't have stood a chance!"

"But he didn't fight, and using him would have been a pretty unfair advantage, though I guess it's all we could expect from you and your _skill level_," she scoffed at him.

The argument continued to degenerate all the while as Brock decided he wanted no part in the matter. Then a familiar electric mouse ambled up to him affectionately.

"Hey, Pikachu, how are you doing?" the future breeder asked. "Hey, do you think you can solve this problem for us? If we don't leave soon, it's going to take forever to get to Vermilion City."

The electric-type Pokemon nodded before turning an almost feral gaze on the two trainers arguing before him. Hey, they may have been his favorites, but that didn't mean that their pointless fighting was any more enjoyable to watch. Lightning began to twitch to life from the sacs in his cheeks and he let it build up a bit more before unleashing his attack.

"Pika. . . _chu_!"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes** - Holy. . . haha. . . HAHAHA! I finished this all in one sitting just now! I'm _so _on a roll, dammit! WooT! This is great! I'm so excited! Oh please, merciful heavens, let me keep this up! I haven't been able to put together a whole chapter/story (depending on whether it's a one-shot or not) at once in years! Let's do another one! C'mon, right now!

Well, maybe not _right_-right now. . . I mean, it _is _almost three a.m. . . .

Um, I am still working on/writing the second part of "Reunions". Don't worry; it's totally happening. I also wanted to write something about Ash's rivalry with Gary and Misty's interpretation of it. . . It's gonna be cute! I just need to find/remember an episode when Gary beat Ash in a Pokemon battle. If anyone happens to remember an episode where that happens, please let me know so that I can rewatch it and get my facts straight!

Anyway, thanks for reading! Until next time!


	8. Ghosts

**Disclaimer **- Don't own nothin'.

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Okay, well, first I would like to give a quick thanks to everyone who reviewed as of the previous two updates to this fic! I know I've been on a crazy, long-term, unplanned hiatus from FFN but I got back in the game and quite a few of my old readers did so as well. It makes me blush thinking some of you guys have looked forward to me coming back here. . . but I really appreciate the boost in confidence you've given me!

**Series Title **- "Our Best", Ash and Misty Mini-Series

Inspired by the song, "My Best", sung by Vanessa Carlton.

**O**o**O**

**oNe-ShOt TiTlE **- "Ghosts"

**Location **- Lavander Pokemon Tower, roughly a week after Ash gains his Soul Badge.

. . . evol naht tnatropmi erom era sdnob emos esuaceb . . .

**Summary** - He's guilty. She's guilty. They don't know who's to blame. Perhaps the correct answer is neither of them.

**O**o**O**o**O**

The Lavender Town Pokemon Tower stood tall and gloomy (at the very least) roughly one mile from its adjacent civilization. Deep in a wooded area with the sun shrouded and all nearby plantlife wilting miserably from lack of nutrients, and always with a dense smog ominously floating around it that never seemed to lift.

All Misty had wanted was to never have to lay her eyes on the atrocity again for as long as she lived, especially after her experiences there the last time.

So, of course, as was usually the case with what she wanted, one week after Ash had defeated Sabrina and earned his Soul Badge, there she was. Staring the tower down. Fists clenched at her sides, gaze wavering in hope tht the stupid stone building would simply vanish.

But there it continued to stand, mocking her fear with its very ominous presense. And Ash, dear tentative friend to her that he surely was, couldn't keep himself from pointing her odd behavior out.

"Geez, Misty, you sure have been jumpy today, haven't you?" he chuckled lazily with his arms up and fingers laced behind his head.

Well, he was always known for being so delicate, wasn't he?

"Pikachupi?" Pikachu asked warily as he hobbled over on his hind legs, patting her on her nearest ankle with one of his stubby paws as the girl glared openly at his trainer.

"Ash, why are we here again?" she gritted her teeth and asked him through a stiff jaw.

But, to her frustration, he merely shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly in response.

"Don't know. Brock, what does the map say?"

Their oldest traveling companion was busy glaring at the unfolded piece of paper stretched out in both of his hands. He stood with his eyes glued to the thing for a couple of minutes before twisting it sideways to the left, staring at it some more, then wrenching it one hundred and eighty degrees to the right.

Finally he sighed and dropped his arms at his sides, one still holding their apparently useless map, "I give up. Either this map is outdated or. . ." Refusing to give Misty any barb to string him up with, the future Pokemon breeder cleared his throat and decided on a new course of discussion.

"We should set up camp for the night since we're not going to have any good luck figuring out how to find our way to Fuchsia City while we're tired and hungry."

Ash's face lit up immediately at the promise of food.

"Good idea, Brock! What do you need help with? Misty can go get the firewood and I can find a stream nearby to refill our canteens," the raven-haired trainer offered offhandedly.

"I'm sorry, Ash. _What _did you just say I could do?" Misty yelped with a twitching eyebrow.

"Uh. . ."

"Oooh, no you don't, Mr. Pokemon Master! Why should I go out there and risk my safety just so you can stuff your face with Brock's cooking?"

"Well, Misty, you either have to get the firewood or the water. And no matter what, you're going to have to leave the campsite."

"B - but, I mean. . ." the redhead stuttered frustratedly, glancing between her two traveling companions. "But c'mon! It's not _that_ late! We should just keep going a bit longer! Maybe we'll find our way back to town!"

"Misty, it's getting dark!" Brock admonished her, growing tired of her combative attitude.

"How can you even tell?" she shrieked back, waving her arms about at the thick mist surrounding them and the dense foliage from overhead blotting out the sky.

Unfortunately Ash and Brock continued staring her down, awaiting her final decision. . . so she eventually chose to give it.

"Fine, fine! I'll go get the firewood. But I'm taking Pikachu with me."

The raven-haired Pokemon trainer felt his posture slip as his mouth fell agape.

"Nuh uh! No way am I giving you Pikachu just because you're too scared to get firewood on your own! You have your own Pokemon to protect you anyway!"

"Ash, just let her take Pikachu or else we might as well skip dinner altogether. I mean, we can't keep fighting about this all night!" Brock attempted to mediate with his hands held cautiously up before him.

"Agh, fine, whatever! Pikachu?" Ash called out as he bent down to his buddy's eye level. The electric mouse twitched his ears in response and turned to face his trainer in curiosity. "You go ahead with Misty," he paused here and eyed the redheaded girl in frustration, "and make sure you _thundershock_ anything that moves, okay?"

"Pikachu!" the electric Pokemon responded with a nod of affirmation.

"Okay, at least that's finally settled. Go on, Misty. At this point we'll need to start the fire before I can prepare anything because there won't be enough daylight left. Ash, I remember there was a stream about ten minutes west from here. You think you can find it?"

"Please, Brock! My sense of direction isn't _that _bad!"

"Could have fooled me. . ." Misty murmured from behind him with a faint smirk on her face before twisting on her heel and starting to march away from their designated campsite.

"Hey!"

"C'mon, Pikachu; let's go find some wood," the redhead went on as if to ignore him. The electric mouse squealed his own name and hopped towards the only female companion of their group and the two of them left without another snippy word of abuse.

Ash scoffed and stretched as he glared at his supposed friend's back.

"You know, I think you're right about her," Brock noted with a hand to his chin in thought.

"Of course I am. . . ." And then, regaining focus and right on que, "What am I right about now?"

"Misty's been pretty jumpy today. Scared too, I think; like you said. I suppose it makes sense if you think about it but. . ." the future breeder tapered off before clearing his throat and attempting to clarify where he'd been going, "I mean, after the last time we were here."

Ash couldn't help the overwhelming curiosity that was itching its way up the back of his mind.

"What are you talking about?"

"Uh. . . well, you should remember some of it at least. You do, don't you?"

"I remember some, yeah. . . Specifically the part when you guys decided you were too scared to come inside with me. I had Pikachu and my other Pokemon to help me though so don't feel too guilty, alright?" the raven-haired trainer responsed with mild resentment.

"I get it, Ash. Clearly we're terrible people and it was wrong of us to let you go back inside the tower on your own. But you can't blame us for having _very_ reasonable fears after we had to witness things like floating dinette sets and. . .

"Anyway, it's not like we were completely safe and content out front while we waited for you to get out of there."

Quirking a brow, Ash felt the obvious question leave his mouth before he could even think to withdraw it.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"Well, of course there was the creepy atmosphere and the occasional moaning and other sounds coming from inside. I think the thing that got to Misty the most though was when she was levitated up into the air."

"Uh. . . she was what?" Ash asked innocently as guilty sweat began to bead across his forehead.

"It's kinda hard to explain. We were discussing whether or not to follow you in there because it had been a few hours and we were getting worried. Then, out of nowhere, she just started floating up in the air."

Yeah, Ash remember that.

"She was squirming and crying about wanting to get back down. . ."

Uh huh, he could remember that now too.

"The point is that she was pretty freaked out by the time she hit the ground," and Brock paused for a moment to massage tenderly at his backside. "It only made it all worse when whatever got a hold of her finally decided to let her go. She fell down, landed on top of me, and then we both felt this - I don't know - this _chill_ and we knew something had to be wrong with you after all so we ran into the tower and started looking. We found you and Pikachu ten minutes later underneath that fallen chandelier. I held it up while Misty pulled the two of you out of there but neither of you would wake up for anything.

"You know, I guess I can't really blame her. I mean, I never wanted to come back to this place either. I can only imagine how badly _she _must feel about it. So maybe you shouldn't poke fun at this particular fear of hers. I'm just saying."

The younger trainer stood stock still as he mulled over the information he'd just been given. He would usually blow off Brock's warnings about pushing Misty's buttons but this time. . .

He could still hear her shrieking in his ear as he lifted her up by the waist. He had laughed at her then, thinking he'd finally really gotten something over her. Even if she would never know it (because she'd slaughter him if she ever _did _find out), he had still won one.

But he hadn't realized it would have this kind of effect on her.

"So. . . it's my fault."

Brock's brow rose as his arms fell loosely at his sides.

"Uh, no. . . I didn't say that. I didn't even think it. Nobody was blaming you for getting caught in a terrible accident or for giving us such a scare. Misty and I both understood that you needed a ghost-type Pokemon's help to defeat Sabrina. . . Well, we understood _eventually_, anyway."

"No, that's not what I meant. But still, I think this was my fault, Brock."

"I don't-"

"-Can I tell you something? But you can't tell Misty about it. And I mean _ever_."

"I - I guess so. . ." Then the future breeder's gaze grew suspicious. "What happened while you were in there without us?"

"Well, it was like this. . . Pikachu and I were wandering around trying to find a ghost-type Pokemon and the chandelier snapped from overhead and fell on us."

"Yeah, and then we found you guys, right?"

"No, before that happened, the Pokemon found us."

"What Pokemon do you mean?"

"Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar. They found Pikachu and I while we were unconscious and. . . they did this really weird thing where they separated us from our bodies."

Brock couldn't help it when his jaw fell slack at this news.

"They _what_?"

"Yeah, it was - well, it was weird, like I said before. But it didn't hurt and it seemed like all they wanted was a new friend to play with."

"They? You mean the Pokemon?" The two young men stared each other down before Brock coughed by way of making up an excuse to move on with the conversation. "Never mind. Continue. What happened then?"

"Well, we flew around a bit. They showed us to their secret playground. Then we came outside and saw you and Misty waiting for us."

Ash faltered, perhaps because the guilt had begun to spread through his gut (even more so than his hunger was gnawing away at him) but it was enough time for Brock to put everything together.

"Ash, _no_. . . Tell me you didn't."

"Uh, didn't what?" the raven-haired trainer stuttered in question as he returned to his original tactic of feigning innocence.

"It was you, wasn't it? Somehow, even though you were intangible, you were able to pick Misty up and carry her into the sky! Why would you do something like that when you already knew how scared she was?"

Ash, not used to having to take such responsibility, did what he did best and opted to avoid it completely by changing the topic.

"What does _in. . . tangible_ mean anyway?" However Brock was not swayed.

"Ash, I take it back."

"Really? What are you taking back?"

"I was wrong. It was your fault. Misty's fear of this place is your fault, at least partially."

"What? Hey, she was already afraid of this place before I did anything to her that night!"

"Yeah, but you took advantage of that to play some stupid prank on her that intensified that fear. Hiding a Caterpie in her sleeping bag was one thing but she was scared for her life this time around and all you cared about was getting a cheap laugh out of it," Brock finished his fierce defense of their absent party member before stepping back and admiring the shameful expression befalling Ash's face.

"You wanna know what the saddest part is about that situation?"

"What?" the younger trainer asked in a bitter undertone.

"While you were busy getting a laugh at her expense, Misty was running inside that ghost-infested Pokemon Tower trying to find you because she knew something had to be wrong with you."

The discussion was doing nothing for his guilt but more than that was the wave of panic welling up within him.

"Y - you're not gonna tell her anything, are you?" he yelped in fear.

"No, I won't. But I expect _you_ to tell her. Tell her _something_; _anything_."

"B - but why? I think it'd be better for everyone if we just drop it and pretend it never happened."

"Ash. . ."

"Besides, you know what she'd do to me if she ever found out, don't you?"

"Ash."

"C'mon, Brock! Don't make me do it! I don't wanna die!"

"Ash!"

"Brock?" a familiar voice called out from the other end of the campsite, causing the raven-haired trainer's heart to hammer as it leapt up into his throat. "Ash, what are you guys talking about?"

Misty was back, arms held out before her and full of dried branches and brambles, Pikachu hobbling bipedal awkwardly at her feet as he also rejoined their group.

She tossed everything that she was holding into the center of their firepit, dusting off her hands and reaching her full height once more as the electric mouse followed suit then _"chaa"_-ed in relief as he fell forward onto all four paws and ran affectionately for his trainer.

"Uh, it's nothing, right, Brock?" Ash begged as he turned and glanced at his newfound accomplice.

"Yeah," and then, under his breath, "not yet anyway."

Things between the three of them grew quiet, somber with the sound of a freshly revealed secret. Then Brock cleared his throat, bending down to remove a cutting board, a pot, and some vegetables from his napsack.

"Ash, when you go to get the water, can you rinse these off too? And fill the pot with water filtered from our canteens."

"S - sure. . . In fact, I should probably go get that water now anyway. It _is _getting late. C'mon, Pikachu. . ."

"Wha-? Ash, you haven't even filled the canteens back up yet?" Misty whined in frustration, "Seriously, what _were _you guys talking about? How could anything take this long to get done?"

"Hah! Said the sissy who could barely stand to leave at all a few minutes ago," the Pallet Town trainer couldn't help but argue.

"At least I did my part! So what if I took my time or if I was a bit scared? I still got what we needed; enough firewood to last until tomorrow morning. What the heck have _you_ been waiting for, huh?"

"I was. . . I was waiting for Pikachu! I couldn't be sure you wouldn't poison him against me, ya know?"

Before the argument could degenerate any further, Brock gave Ash a sharp look that Misty must have missed, causing the youngest companion of their group to turn tail and power-walk in the opposite direction, towards the stream the future breeder had mentioned earlier, but not without the canteens and pot filled with vegetables.

Misty, in turn, huffed and sat down on a tree stump, grumbling to herself about ungrateful, irresponsible bike-wreckers. After a few minutes she fell quiet once more, taking in the chilly air and the even denser smog that seemed to set in after nightfall.

Every little sound haunted her, reminding her of the horror stories she'd been terrorized with when she was younger and her sisters had wanted to freak her out. Cautiously, she turned and gave the fabled Lavender Pokemon Tower another furtive glance, though she could barely see it now that the sun had mostly set, even after Brock had started the fire.

She hoped that later, upon reflection, she could at least claim to have handled the pressure well. Even as every drifting wind against the trees resounded like disembodied voices trying to steal what was left of her courage, she wanted to hold on to her dignity.

So she continued to sit there prudently and take in every possibly grim spectacle that chose to reveal itself, all the while listening to Brock stoke the fire, intermittently removing this and that from his bag.

There was a particularly sharp snapping sound from Ash stepping on a twig as he reentered the campsite. Misty was proud to say that the squeak she made in response was mostly muffled by her biting her bottom lip.

Dinner was eaten in rather amiable silence, considering. The vegetable soup - (thankfully carrot and pepper free) - was a quick fix in place of an actually nutritious meal since they'd set up camp so late, and any leftovers would be relatively safe to eat the next day without added refrigeration.

Brock turned in early since he was always the first one awake in the morning and Ash, perhaps as a means to further avoid Misty, volunteered to do the dishes with Pikachu.

The redhead did her best to rekindle the flames in the hearth and to set out two sleeping bags for her and Ash. Then she whiled away another minute or so by brushing her hair and teeth before returning to that tree stump from earlier. However brave she was trying to be, she couldn't let her guard down at all until there was someone else conscious in sight.

"What are you doing?" Ash whispered pointedly from her left and she nearly jumped two feet in the air (quite an accomplishment from her sitting position).

"Oh - uh," she fumbled as her face heated up in embarrassment, "nothing. Um, I'm just. . . watching the. . . the stars." But she quickly admonished herself for the terrible lie.

After all, she alone had been the one to say it was impossible to see the sky through the fog and thick foliage around them earlier that day.

Maybe Ash had forgotten that. He never had the greatest eye for detail, did he?

"Well, I guess we should get some sleep," he told her in a straight-laced tone. Pikachu had already removed his trainer's cap and taken it with him to bed, apparently to provide some sort of comfort overnight.

Ash bent down and untied the laces of his shoes, removing them and his socks before standing tall again and pulling off his hat and vest.

The normal, nightly routine.

Misty, aggravated by this in a way that she couldn't conceal, twisted around and wrenched her own shoes from her feet, tossing them haphazardly next to her own sleeping bag.

"So you're not going to say anything then?" she asked with a furious scowl.

"I, uh. . . like what?"

"I don't know. Something like, _'Hey, remember the last time we were here? I was busy playing ghost while you and Brock worried like crazy about my well-being! Sorry about that!'_?"

Ash, worst fears confirmed, tried to keep his feet planted firmly where he stood while his supposed friend stared him down barefoot, her arms crossed and stance defiant.

"Misty, you knew. . . ?" he gaped before begging the even more important question, "and I'm still alive?!" he cried out, patting himself down as if to be sure.

"Yeah, I know," the redhead scoffed though Ash wasn't sure if she was answering his first question or granting him amnesty from his crimes by agreeing with the second.

"B - but why?" the raven-haired trainer wondered aloud before pausing, shaking his head and mentally berating himself for such stupidity. It was like he _wanted_ to add fuel to her fire.

So it was a bit strange when Misty's expression softened from where she stood, her arms falling to her sides and her other limbs loosening up as well.

"Because, when I got back from getting firewood - didn't take as long as I thought, by the way - and heard you guys talking about me and what happened the last time we were here. . . you know, once I got passed the whole soul-sucked-from-body thing. . . I laughed about it."

The two of them stood there looking awkward, Misty even more so due to her continued attempt to have eyes everywhere at once so she could keep from experiencing anymore unfortunate surprises.

"You. . . laughed?" the raven-haired trainer gulped, both apprehensive and hopeful at the same time. "You thought it was funny?"

"It was a good prank actually," Misty begrudgingly admitted, "considering who pulled it off."

"Alright. Yeah," Ash murmured with an internal sigh of relief. It seemed he was in the clear. He continued to nod his head absentmindedly before his density caught up with him, ". . . I don't get it."

"What is it _now_?" the redhead sighed in resignation.

"Why are you so scared of this place then?"

"I'm not scared!" she rebuffed on reflex.

"_Really_, Misty?" Ash shot back knowingly with a raised eyebrow, daring her to deny it after everything he'd witnessed from her that day.

"Well, I wasn't anymore scared than you!" she retorted then, trying with all her might to keep her voice down so that she wouldn't wake Brock or Pikachu up.

"Hey, I was only a bit scared the first time and now I know there's nothing to fear!" the raven-haired trainer admitted confidently. "Look, if you're not gonna tell me then you don't have to. S'not like I really care all that much. As long as I'm in the clear when it comes to what happened then that's it. Good night."

He immediately turned around and began to remove his vest and gloves while Misty stared behind him, not knowing what to say.

She had no idea why the place had put the fear of god in her. In truth, she knew that the anxiety she felt the second time she and her friends had approached the Tower far outweighed that which she'd felt the first time around. And there was really no reason for that. Even though it stood almost a hundred feet away from their campsite, it wasn't doing anything to them.

In fact, disregarding the suspicious atmosphere and the fact that most wild Pokemon kept their distance from the place, it could almost have been considered an old relic simply existing to attract tourists.

But every time she looked in the direction she knew it stood in, every time her consciousness dredged up the knowledge that it was so close to where she was, uneasiness filled her. She felt consumed by worry and doubt and dread, wondered if she'd blink open her eyes and everyone would be gone and she'd be alone.

Misfortune already seemed to trail behind Ash and the rest of them in the form of Team Rocket's near-daily interruptions. Pitfalls, net bazookas, Beedrill swarms, the occasional plank bridge with fraying ropes just waiting to snap as soon as they attempted to cross. . .

She'd seen far too much since traveling with Ash and Brock to think that a trip to a place called the_ Tower of Terror _would end peacefully. And she'd been right, hadn't she? After all, she and Brock had found Ash and Pikachu practically buried alive under that chandelier.

And suddenly she realized why she was so scared.

"I thought you were dead, you know," she whispered bluntly. But it was loud enough for Ash's shadow to still as he was kneeling down to get into his sleeping bag. He stealthily stood up and backed away from it again, making sure not to accidently nudge Pikachu, before turning to face her with squinting eyes.

"What?"

"I thought you were. . . I mean, when we found you, you were unconscious and you didn't respond to anything we said to you. W - we couldn't even tell. . . well, we didn't even check if. . . you were breathing. I just thought. . . It terrified me. _That's _what scared me. That you were just suddenly gone and. . ." Misty fumbled, clearly a mess as she twisted her fingers amongst each other and tried to string even one more sentence together.

"Misty, c'mon! I'm going to be the greatest Pokemon Master that ever lived! There's no way I'd let myself get taken out by something like-"

"-You don't know what can happen to you, Ash! The world can't always bend itself to your dreams and you've gotta be the densest guy out there to think it would! You're only ten years old so you refuse to see that, I know, but. . . you aren't me. And you weren't the one who had to sit there and hold everything in while they waited for th - their _friend_ to wake from the dead."

Ash opened his mouth to retort but withdrew it. Misty didn't seem to have the clearest head at the moment. In fact, her expression reminded him of the last time they'd been there, trying her hardest to remain cool yet her cheeks were flushed, voice unsteady, and eyes watering.

"I. . . I just. . . I mean, I wasn't. . ."

"No, you weren't. You got lucky. Good for you. But. . ." And the girl shook her head rapidly as if emptying it of something only she knew existed. However it didn't seem to be enough to keep Ash from seeing what was crossing her mind.

"You feel guilty."

"H - huh?"

"I said that _you _feel guilty about what happened." He waited for her to deny it but she couldn't seem to find the words to do so. "Don't you? What do you think you coulda done, huh? Misty, if you'd come in with me, we probably woulda both been trapped under there and then we _would _have died 'cause there's no way Brock would have been able to lift that huge chandelier off of you, me, _and _Pikachu!"

"I have good reflexes!" she finally found the strength to reply with a firmly set jaw.

"I don't think anyone's _that _good."

"You don't know if it would have landed on all three of us! Chances are, one of us would have made it out of there and been able to reach Brock so he could come help!"

"Whoa, Misty, calm down. It doesn't matter, okay?" He stepped closer to her just as she opened her mouth to come up with another smart comment and went on before she had the chance to unleash it on him. "The point is that I don't blame you. No matter what I said to Brock earlier, I wouldn't hold a grudge against you guys just because you both valued your lives more than you valued my journey."

"It's not like that!"

"Well, that time it was. And I'm saying that's okay."

Misty still looked doubtful so Ash tried to come up with a compromise, hoping to knock out that frail expression she was still sporting. There was something. . . unforgiveable about it. Or else, something that made him want to never have to be the cause of it.

"Just promise me that you'll try and be there for the next challenge I have to face."

And finally he had sparked a smile.

"Well, the odds are that the next _challenge _you'll have to face will be Team Rocket. . . So, yeah. I guess I'm in," she agreed almost bashfully.

"Pssht, way to go, Misty. . . Always looking for the easy way out, aren't'cha?" he guffawed as he felt the emotions that had been coiling up within him start to loosen.

Misty's face had cleared up too, any trace of tears and worry gone as far as he could see. She might even get some sleep tonight if she tried hard enough. And that seemed to be the plan, seeing as she'd started to unbuckle and remove her classic red suspenders so that she could place them next to her shoes.

Then, at the very last minute, she stood back up.

"Oh, Ash?" she asked, and he thought for sure he might actually get a _thank you _from her for probably the first time since he'd met her.

"Yeah, what is it?" he replied in a tired whisper as he held in a yawn.

To his surprise, he received a punch in the shoulder.

"Wha-? Misty, what was that for?" he started in a yell before forcing his tempo low enough to be considered an annoyed mutter.

"That, Mr. Pokemon Master, was for hiding that Caterpie in my sleeping bag that one time. I knew it didn't just wander in there on its own!" she bit back in a hushed tone before _hmph_-ing and stomping as much as she could afford to do barefoot all the way back to her sleeping bag.

"How long were you listening in on us anyway?" he fiercely questioned in reply.

Meanwhile, a dark-skinned Gym Leader did his best to stifle his laughter from where he lay a few feet away from his friends.

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes** - Yay, I finished it! I finished it! I've been trying to write another one of these babies for awhile now! I kept getting stuck on a few of the others I was working on (including "Reunions: part two") so I'm glad I was finally able to get something done without work or sleep or my cat or writer's block putting a dent in my time.

I just realized that this series is _totally_ going in a completely different direction than I'd originally planned. I'd never thought that I would end up doing spin-offs of episodes or moments between Ash and Misty. . . but now that I've written so many like that, I kind of enjoy how it's going. I mean, someone had to put everything into words eventually, c'mon, right? They're just too awesome (Misty, especially) to not have everything properly defined (or at least equally defined between them). Stupid male-centric first few seasons of Pokemon. . . Stupid Ash being the main character alone while his human companions get shuffled aside almost daily. . . Dat's messed up!

Anyway, yeah. . . Now it's back to maybe, hopefully working on the Reunions two-parter. And the rivalry one-shot. And the other miscellaneous one-shot that's not part of this series. And the Misty-fic that retells, like, the _entire _anime from her AU PoV. And possibly a couple of other linked one-shots (another two parter! YAH!) for the **OB series** that have to do with the episodes Naval Maneuvers and Misty Meets Her Match (which, hopefully, you guys will love). . .


End file.
